Lost Girl
by Winged Lady Colette
Summary: In order to save the future, Rey must first save the past. Time Travel. Possible legends content
1. Alone

**Author's Note: Another one, I'm sorry! I just couldn't get this idea out of my head! I'm sorry! I hope ya'll like it! Let me know what you think! I am super excited for this story and hope that ya'll take to it! And I'm open to pairings! Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

 **Warnings: Lack of main story continuity, OOCness, language, unbeta'd and character death.**

 **Word Count: 6,002**

Lost.

She heard people whisper that word behind her back, wherever she goes. On Jakku? The Resistance base? And everywhere thereafter.

She wondered if perhaps it was written on her back somewhere or if it was just a look in her eyes that everyone understood that she simply couldn't hide. Undoubtedly, though, did she always feel lost.

Or perhaps _abandoned_ is a better word.

She refused to believe it on Jakku. She kept looking up at the sky, watching the stars twinkle lazily, keeping an eye out for any ships that could be entering the atmosphere that belonged to her family. The people that left her behind when she was just a small child. She would spend endless hours looking up at sky wishing that she would be able to see her family coming back for her. Then they would all be able to pick up where they left off.

She would be happy. She would forgive that they were gone so long just so that she could be with them. So that she could be happy with them.

She just didn't want to be alone anymore. She spent endless days and nights trying to survive and looking to the past to try and remember the faces of the people who left her behind so that she would recognize them when they come back for her. But all she could remember was staring up at the sky as a junker of a ship soars up, up, up until it's out of Jakku's atmosphere and sight. She struggled against the glutton of a man that held her roughly by the arm as she screamed, cried and begged for her family to come back.

To not leave her alone.

But they didn't come back. No matter how long she waited. No matter how hard she prayed. No matter how desperately she pleaded. No one came. No one came back to get her.

Then she met Finn. Then Han Solo and Chewbacca.

When she was taken by the First Order because she saw the map that lead to Luke Skywalker, they came for her. People she barely knew, barely spoke to, came back to her as if it was nothing. As if it was something she should have expected to happen. Finn, who admitted that he lied to her about being a part of the Resistance, came back to her even when her own family didn't.

They will never understand how much that meant to her. She thought she was going to have to figure her way out of this. Get out of the station she was on - a planet sized station, she came to learn! - all by herself. Just like she had been dealing with everything ever since she was left on Jakku. She was going to figure it out herself and then she would be okay. Where she would go from there, she doesn't know. Probably back to Jakku, the place she knew and felt a connection to, no matter how feeble. It was something.

But she didn't have to. Finn, Han Solo and Chewy came for her. They could have just considered her dead and blew up the station like they planned, but the three of them came for her. They saw something in her worth returning to. Something she was beginning to doubt was there.

But then Kylo Ren killed Han Solo. Ran him through with a lightsaber. He was a crotchety man that was rough around the edges, but there was something endearing about him. If Rey had to picture a fatherly figure in her mind - and she's done it thousands of times over the years - Han fit the bill in her mind. It was obvious he cared in a I'm-not-soft-or-kind-so-never-think-that-or-your-dead kind of way. Rey had never been around kind, loving people, so her perception of it is skewed at best. Han fit the perfect image of a father in her mind.

Kylo didn't think so. He said that Han would just disappoint her. She didn't think so, but then again, she didn't get the chance to know. Kylo killed him. In cold blood. They knew each other. He was Han's son, she came to learn. And he killed his own father.

Rey had started to feel something ethereal that she heard about only in stories. She was becoming aware of the Force. She was feeling it - and deeply overwhelmed by it's power and how it moves - but it was overwhelming. She could feel the moment that Han died. She felt him falling into the abyss. The weightlessness and the pain in his body and heart, and then he faded away with the image of an adorable little boy in the forefront of his mind. The last thing that crossed his mind was that of a small child that he loved dearly.

The pain she felt was unlike anything. It was like in that moment, she was one with Han. She could feel his pain so raw and real that it left her feeling weak in the body and in the heart. And when she held Luke's lightsaber in her hand, she felt rage. She saw red and fought against Kylo Ren in a way she never had before. She hated him for seeing a parent as worthless. She would kill to have a parent in her life and he was so willing to end his life for some sick desire to be stronger than Darth Vader. A monster of their past.

She was sickened by him. Absolutely sickened.

He killed Han, hurt Finn and betrayed those that loved him. She hated him.

It's after that the images begins to blur. She found out where Luke Skywalker was and General Organa - whom she also felt this deep connection to - asked her to go to him. He would listen to her. Rey wasn't sure why that would be, but went to him anyway and offered him the lightsaber she had of his.

His look of pain and sadness toward her was something she didn't understand. His eyes studied her and then she felt his presence beside her. Not physically, but through the Force. She can feel herself become stronger in it, and judging by the way Luke felt through the Force, he was very strong too. She had next to nothing to compare to, but he felt powerful, and sad. Through the Force, he was unbelievably sad.

She felt him brush her mind through the Force, trying to read her without invading her mind. Preliminary, surface thoughts - she later learned. In her mind, in constant repeat was the death of Han Solo and the pain in Luke's eyes became so raw that he pulled away from her - both through the Force and physically - like her thoughts had actually wounded him.

He wouldn't accept the light saber back, either. When she finally got him to speak, he refused the sabre. Said it belong to another and left it at that. He gave her a side-long glance when she tentatively placed it back in her satchel, but said nothing.

"Why are you here?" Luke asked after a long silence.

"We need you," Rey says, her voice trembling with the weight of his sadness and her own barring down on her. She can't tell where it's coming from anymore. The Force is blurring the lines of her understanding. "General Organa asked me to come get you."

He closes his eyes tightly at her name. "How is Leia?" He asked instead, surprising Rey.

"I... don't know," Rey admitted. She wasn't wise in the way of people. She didn't understand them. She knew survival, and to read intentions of others, but that's it. That's the extent of it. She can only theorize. "Sad, hurt. But she's strong. Stronger than anyone I have ever met."

Luke blinked slowly, steel gray eyes looking down at the wild grass around him. There is a touch of pride in his eyes at her words, like he couldn't agree more with that statement. He closes his eyes and there is deep purple around the top lids, belying a hard life that Rey can sympathize with. She's not sure what part of the fairytale turned to devastation in the stories, but whatever it was, it was bad enough to give him a lot of pain and many restless nights.

"We need your help to fight the First Order," Rey said, taking a step forward.

Luke shook his head slowly, looking defeated. "I can't help you."

"But you're Luke Skywalker!" Rey exclaimed, surprised by his reluctance. "You're a Jedi!"

Luke's smile was rueful, like the words left a sour taste in his mouth. "I may have been, at one point, but no longer. Jedi don't hold a place in this galaxy. The ways of the Order are construed. Those that could do something, that could stop Snoke, are gone. Or in a bad way." He casts her a long glance. "You've come a long way for nothing. I'm sorry you wasted your time."

"But the First Order - " Rey started, but is cut off.

"-Won't be able to win forever." Luke shakes his shaggy peppered hair, looking more old and tired than anyone Rey had ever seen. "Even if they succeed now, they will ultimately be stopped, as is the will of the Force. Trust in it."

Rey is lost. "I don't understand..." she stepped closer to him. "How could you say that? Why can't you be the one to stop them? Why do they have to succeed first before they fail? Why won't you do anything?"

"I did do something," Luke said, looking at her, defeated. "I gave them everything they needed to destroy us all. I think I've done enough."

Rey's eyebrows pulled together tightly. "I don't understand..." She felt the Force fizzle around her, feeding off of the helplessness and fear settling in her belly. She stomped it down. She refused to give up. There had to be something that she should be able to do. If she is suppose to trust in the Force, something she didn't know she possessed until now, then that has to mean something. There is a reason she's learned about it now. She has to be able to help.

"No," she snapped, narrowing her eyes and widening her stance. "You haven't done everything. You are a Jedi! A keeper of the peace! You are suppose to stop those that are trying to destroy the galaxy, not turn away from them! Not let them gain power while you dawdle about! You have a responsibility! You have to do something! You have to fight!"

"I cannot," Luke said, sighing.

"Then instruct me how to use the Force and I will do it for you!" Rey yelled. Her eyes water up. Finn, Chewy, Han, and even Leia, whom she feels this strong connection to, she has to try and protect them. Them and everyone else. She won't abandon them! Not like she was abandoned. She won't be lost any longer. She will find where she belongs, helping others! If Luke couldn't find the strength to do something, than Rey would.

She owed it to the people who came back for her. She owed it to them. To Finn, who may not make it. To Han, who didn't. To Chewy, who lost his longtime friend. To Leia, who smiled thinly and held her close, whispering that Rey was safe and okay with them. To Poe Dameron, who immediately went to Finn's side, eyebrows pulled together in worry and fear and refused to leave his side. And even to Luke, who looked like he wanted to do something, but had spent so long beating himself up over the sins of his past, that he doesn't seem to know how to deal with it anymore.

Luke turned toward her, looking deep into her dark eyes, trying to see something. He narrows his eyes and stares at her. His eyebrows pull together tightly, trying desperately to see something in Rey.

"I can't," Luke said. "I can't train you."

"You have to!" Rey said, stepping up next to him now to grab his left arm. "You have to train me! If you don't own up to this, then I will." She stared up into his eyes, pushing the Force at him, not to hurt him, but to add weight to her eyes. She's not sure how she's doing it, simply that she is. He looked around, feeling the pressure, before looking back down into her eyes.

"You're..." His eyes light up, and for the first time since she first saw him, a flicker of life appears there, burning strongly even though it's so small. "You might just be the one I'm looking for." He smiled faintly at her. Sad, worried and concerned, but there is a flicker of hope. Rey didn't know what she said that changed his mind, or what he meant by his words, but she was glad for them.

She had sent word to Leia that she would be training with Luke, and that she would contact her as soon as she could, and their training began immediately. Time flew, and a few months passed. Rey learned the Jedi Code, and much about the Order. At least, what Luke learned in his many years of searching through old, lost temples both Sith and Jedi. She learned all about the lightsaber and how to make her own. Luke insisted that she keep the one she had, but make one that was specifically hers.

When she asked why he wouldn't take it back, he said, "You will need it, Rey. His lightsaber chose you for a reason. Keep it, and trust that it will guide you."

The training was hard. Brutal even. Rey has lived in a harsh environment for most of her life - all of her known life - but it was nothing compared to the rigorous hours of brutal training of the body and mind. She was never done. When she wasn't moving, or studying, she was meditating. Luke wasn't a kind teacher, but he wasn't overbearing either. He knew he had to be tough because while she was strong, she was years behind Kylo Ren. She was very strong in the Force, and her managing to beat him was a miracle.

"Someone very powerful is with you, young one," Luke said, but never elaborated.

It wasn't long after her training began that the nightmares began. They would happen while she was meditating or in the sparse times in which she actually slept. She didn't know what it was. They were images, feeling through the Force, and voices, all speaking at once, thousands of them, like a roar in her ears was enough to startle her awake every single time. It was like when she first felt Luke's lightsaber call out to her, when she reached out and touched it. It was much like that, but these lasted for so much longer, felt stronger, and left her shaken. She could pick out bits and pieces of what they were saying with the lightsaber, but not with her dreams. None of them made sense.

Luke tried to help her. He tried to get her to clear her mind, to meditate along side her, but it was impossible to get a read on them. Even with his help, they couldn't understand what she was seeing, only that it was influenced by the Force - as if it could have been anything else. But they couldn't figure out more, so Rey learned to live with it. She learned that sleeping would come in short, painful spurts and meditation was light, enough to bring her a bit of balance, but not to give her what she needed, in Luke's opinion.

Rey worked as hard as she could, thinking that she would be strong enough to understand what she was seeing if she had better control over her power in the Force, but it was like she was becoming more and more powerful faster than she was able to learn how to control it. Luke didn't know how to explain it and often spent time in old Jedi temples trying to find the answers, but they didn't have much luck with it.

Three and a half months into her training, Rey and Luke finally left to return to the Resistance. Leia had called, asking her to bring Luke back with her. So Rey turned to her master, looked into his steel blue eyes and said, "We have to go back." Maybe he was feeling more assured of himself, or perhaps he knew how stubborn she was in the short time they knew each other, but instead of being adamant about his solitude, as he had been, he nodded.

"Let's go."

It was then that the blur hit lightspeed and everything happened at once. Rey and Luke returned to the Resistance base, met with Leia where she went to speak with Luke alone, while Rey went to see Finn, who was thankfully awake and about now. He had managed to heal from his injuries with nothing but a massive scar across his back, she's told, and had spent the last few months going through physical therapy, since awakening.

He was happy to see her, and Rey practically threw herself into his arms. Once more, her friend had returned to her. Even if he didn't leave and come back, Kylo Ren tried to kill him and he managed to pull himself back. Poe Dameron was with him, both smiling wide and happily.

Poe sat by, smiling kindly, as Rey sat beside Finn and told him all about the Force. All about the things she learned and about Luke, even about her dreams. She never had this before. She never had someone who would sit by and listen to everything that she said, be interested in her life and want nothing in return from her other than friendship.

Finn listened, and asked questions, looking honestly intrigued and excited for her. Poe even joined in and she honestly liked him well enough. Finn seemed to really like him and enjoy his presence so she was willing to accept him too. Finn was her first friend after all. That, and BB-8 would hang around too. The little droid was excited to see her too, beeping happily up at her whenever she would smile down at him.

But she couldn't stay long. She had to leave with Luke only days after getting there. She was so strong in the Force - and so is Finn, it seemed but not nearly as strong as her - that she couldn't be on a Resistance base with Leia - who was also very powerful in the Force, Luke and Finn, they were all too strong, especially when together, to be able to be ignored by Snoke and Kylo Ren. They couldn't all be together.

Rey hated leaving Finn behind but Poe assured her that he would look after Finn while she was away.

After that, Rey and Luke went somewhere, somewhere... Rey doesn't remember. She knows that she was with Luke and something happened... someone came to them... said something, or did something. Luke told her to run. Told her she was the only one who would be able to save them. She had to leave and he would stay. She was the one that was meant to stop the evil coming. She had to live long enough to be able to do it.

She... she thinks that something happened to Luke. But she's terrified to try and dig around inside the Force to figure out what happened. She wanted to stay behind, to help Luke against... whatever it was, that was coming, but she couldn't. He forced her away. Yelled that she had to go now or everything would go to ruin. She didn't want to leave, tried to stay, but he wouldn't allow her to.

They were in a temple, she remembers. Somewhere Luke hadn't been before. They found something - an artifact of some sort? Rey can't remember - but then everything was going wrong. Being keener, Luke sensed something wrong first. What Rey felt was sickness. It crawled across her body, inside and out, making her shake and look about, paranoid. Luke jerked his attention deeper into the temple, eyebrows pulled together tightly, before turning to Rey and grabbing onto her arm tightly.

"You need to go," Luke said, pushing her toward way they came. "It's not safe here."

"Master, what is that?" Rey asked, looking up at him with large, dark eyes, feeling like a small child again, sickened to her very core. "Why can't you come with me?"

"You have to live. I will hold them off," Luke pushed her away from him, grabbing his lightsaber and igniting it, casting long green beams of light in the darkness around them.

"No," Rey said, stepping closer to his back. She choked a bit on her word, feeling the sickness in her throat. "I will stay with you. I will fight with you, Master."

Luke hesitated a moment, making sure they were still safe before looking over at her with bright steel blue eyes. There is a fire in them so strong, it heats the cold temple they were in, on a planet that lost it's name when the temple was abandoned one time or another many years before she was even born. Before he was even born.

"No, Rey, I need you to protect everyone. I need you to do what I could not. Stop the First Order, stop Snoke. I knew it the moment that I saw you, there was something familiar about you. Now I know, but you must find your answers elsewhere with Masters who will be able to understand you in a way I never could," Luke said staring into her eyes. "Go!"

"No, Master! I won't!" Rey yelled, grabbing her lightsaber strapped to her side and igniting the double blades, casting a blue light along with his green one. "I won't abandon you! I won't be abandoned either!" She felt angry tears well up in her eyes. The sickening feeling is getting worse and while Rey trembled at it's might, Luke held strong.

Luke smiled then. A sad, rueful smile filled with regret. "I'm sorry, Rey. I know you need this, but I can't give it to you. I can't be the person that you need, but they are out there. Those that can be the family you need. And maybe, in a different life, I can be. But not here, not now. You need to survive. The galaxy needs you to survive. _I_ need it too."

She couldn't understand why he wouldn't allow her to stay. She couldn't understand what it was beyond that was so bad that she couldn't be allowed to stay and fight alongside her master. Her friend. Six months was the longest she had ever spend with another human being. Being a companion to them. A friend to them. And hew as asking her to give up the bond she was forging with him in a single instance with all of his backward talk and cryptic words.

She was nineteen years old, but felt like she was six again, watching as her life is once again ripped away from her. A frightening oblivion before her once more.

"I don't want to lose you!" Rey yelled, feeling the Force push hard against her. Her knees buckled a bit but she forced herself to keep planted, knowing it was Luke that was pushing her.

Luke's smile was calm, resigned even. "This isn't goodbye, Rey. There is no death, there is only the Force." That wasn't what she wanted to hear. It was scary enough that he would be fighting something that appeared to be sickening even to the Force itself, but the fact that he has resigned himself to die before it, made her that much more less willing to leave.

But the Force agreed with Luke. It wanted her to leave and even though Luke claimed she was soon to be more powerful than even he, she couldn't push back against his might. It was like the Force wouldn't allow her to join in this fight. It wanted her to live.

And it wanted Luke to die. Or, at least, sacrifice himself so that she may live.

She couldn't accept that. She wasn't going to let him leave her. Not without fighting tooth and nail for it. He was her family. He was the one that she had gotten the closest to. She liked Finn, he was her first friend and she missed him dearly, but Luke was her master. He showed her the way and even though their time together was short, she felt like she knew him all her life. She thought that he felt the same, but now he was saying goodbye - "this isn't goodbye, Rey" - like it all meant nothing to him. She could feel him closing off their bond, severing it from his end.

"No! No! Master Luke!" Rey launched herself toward him as the darkness leaks into her peripheral, surrounding Luke. He smiled back at her, turning to face whatever it was without an ounce of fear. The moment her feet lifted from the ground, the Force grabbed hold of her and threw her back toward the large concrete doors slowly groaning shut behind them.

It was like everything slowed in that moment. Tendrils of darkness begin to surround Luke, wrapping around him slowly, trying to avoid the light of his saber. Between the fingers of death, a small figure appears shining a pale blue light in the darkness. It's tiny, probably around the height of her knee should she have been standing next to it.

The artifact that Luke was holding in his left hand starts to glow as he whispered into it before dropping it to the little blue form that somehow caught it and vanished with it into nothing.

Rey hit the ground hard on the tailbone, sending a pain shooting down her legs. She ignored it, jumping to her feet and running toward the closing door, seeing the glow of Luke's lightsaber spinning around, cutting the tendrils to pieces before being swallowed by them. Through their bond, Rey could sense his pain, his agony, his regret - about everything. So much was left unsaid between them. Something that he wished he could have rectified, but in the final moments of their bond, he used that moment to tell her one thing:

"The life of a Jedi is that of sacrifice. For the Republic, for the Order, for the people, for each other. The life of a person is a pure mixture of sacrifice and greed. Don't let the Teachings dictate who you became. If the Force wanted you to be a perfect Jedi, it wouldn't have allowed the Order to be destroyed in the first place. It wants balance, equal parts good and evil. Find your path trusting yourself. May the Force be with you."

The severing of a bond, especially between Master and Apprentice is a pain unlike anything she had ever felt. It was like over the months Luke had a piece of himself growing in her. Not of her physical body, but of the part of her body the existed within the Force. It was something that naturally happened when people become close and are strong in the Force. Losing him was like taking a lightsaber and carving him out of her in the most excruciating way possible. Feeling Han die was painful, but feeling Luke be swallowed by this darkness was like a thousand sabers being shoved into her chest at once.

She folded her arms over her chest, feeling like that was the only way to keep the pieces together, and screamed. Her voice immediate cut through the otherwise silence of the temple and her voice in the Force rippled through it like a tidal wave. Millions of voices all collected within the Force scream out in pain and terror alongside her at once.

Something awakened, whether it was in herself, or in the Force, she doesn't know, but she felt something envelope around her. It was warm and protective and somehow _familiar._ She knew it was people, but she didn't know who. She never felt them in the Force before and even if she was coherent or rational enough to try and feel them out better, she knew that she never met them before, but knew that they were connected somehow.

Rey is on her knees on the cold concrete, her body bent over with her arms criss-crossed over her chest and her forehead pressed close to the rough ground. Her brown hair going a few inches passed her collarbone falling in smooth, messy curls from years of being twisted, falls over her shoulder and pools up around her head. She felt these people wrap around her, as if protecting her, and that's when she feels the sickness leaking out of the room in front of her, like poison seeping from Jakku grand viper's fangs. She raised her head slowly, heart pounding.

She doesn't see who is wrapped around her, but large, flat feet of something she doesn't recognize standing before her. It's colored a familiar pale blue with a glowing orb in it's hands. Something that it had to of gotten from Luke. Unlike the person, the orb is solid, not intangible. It holds the orb between two small, three fingered hands with long, sharp nails.

She doesn't see it's face, but hears it's voice through the Force. "Save us all, you will."

The orb begins to glow brightly, a rainbow of colors and the screaming in the Force is silenced in replace of a loving hum - then silence.

* * *

When Rey opens her eyes, she's laying on her side outside. She can hear the local wildlife around, definitely not something she heard when they approached the planet they were on. The thing that caught Luke's attention was that there was no life on the planet. Nothing whatsoever. Even the Force flowing through the planet and across it's surface was... somewhat stagnant. Like it was sick somehow.

Now, Rey can imagine how.

The pain and hurt Rey felt hits her full force in that moment, making her realize how weak her body is. It's like the Force has all but been sucked out of her body. She can barely see anything through her blurry vision. Just green. Something green in front of her, and there is coarse grass beneath her, scratching at her chest, neck, arms, stomach and cheek. It's annoying, especially when the wind catches it and pulls at the blades of green but she has absolutely no strength to move.

Her hearing is like through a tunnel, like her sense of _sense_ through the Force. It's like everything is being diluted. Like she's buried ten feet beneath the sands of Jakku, hampering any input and output her sense might pick up. Even her sense of touch has diminished - although not enough to stop her from feeling that incessant prickling feeling from the grass.

She can hear something faintly, at the edge of her hearing. Like popping sounds that don't make sense to her, but somehow lull her to sleep. She feels a small brush at the corner of her brain through the Force, as if asking is she was alright. She didn't feel alright. She felt like she had gone through all of Luke's training super compressed into a single moment, wiping her out immediately. She's going to ache like she can't believe for a while to come, she just knows it. Whatever that orb did, it sucked all of her strength out of her, both of the body, mind and ability in the Force.

Luke...

She feels the piece of herself in the Force, faintly, and has to pull away. She touched a raw part and caused a flare up of pain and sensitivity, like when she was ten and tore up her knee really bad, trying to scrounge for parts in an old Imperial warship that the sands of Jakku revealed after years of coarse sand eroded away at the exterior. She scrapped her knee so bad, almost all the layers of skin to the bone were revealed. It was sensitive to the touch and she had to be careful to keep it covered and away from the same until it healed, she has a nasty scar there in remembrance.

In vein, she reaches out into the Force, hoping against hope that she would be able to find her master around her. She knew that he wouldn't be there, but when knowing it for certain with proof of his lack of presence, anywhere in the Force, through her sluggish connection, was enough to rip a broken cry from her mouth. It's weak and pathetic but only lasts a moment. All of her strength goes into that little cry before she blacks out once more.

* * *

"It's around here somewhere."

"You sure about that, Master? It's been _hours_ since you supposedly felt something out here."

"It's around here," the first voice says, breaking through her weak veil of consciousness. They sound confident. Then indignant when they say, "And what do you mean 'supposedly'?"

"I'm sorry, Master, but we were in the thick of battle and you almost got your head blown off by a B-1 battledroid because you heard something through the Force. And that was hours ago! How are we to one; know that you actually heard something that was so quiet that you aren't even sure what it was, and two; still here even though it's been so long?" The second voice asks, not sounding apologetic at all. "And besides, if Master Obi-Wan didn't practically throw you to ground, you'd be dead."

"Hey!"

"Now, Ahsoka, I actually agree with Anakin, I sensed something faintly too."

"Now I'm sure you're both crazy-" the second, younger voice, sounding disbelieving before Rey feels, through the thick haze in her mind, someone step right onto her back, causing her to groan in pain. "By the Force! I stepped on someone!"

"Good job, Snips!"

"I'm sorry!" The weight on her back quickly moves off. "Oh no, something's wrong. She's not moving. Masters?"

"Let me look at her," the third voice says, softly turning Rey over from her back, causing her to roll onto her satchel uncomfortably. A moment later, it's pulled out from under and around her so that she can lay on her back. She opens her eyes, seeing nothing but a blur of color. Through the Force she senses something painfully _familiar_ right in front of her.

Her master. She felt her master. She felt Luke!

"Master..." Rey slurs, her eyes drooping closed. "Master..."

"...an you hear me...?" the third voice calls, but the darkness starts to swallow her. The Force hums, lovingly as she falls, lost once more, into oblivion.


	2. Meeting Someone New

**Author's Note: I'm sorry about the wait, y'all! I am liking the bit of attention that this is getting! I love hearing what y'all have to say! Let me know what you think! Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

 **Warnings: Lack of main story continuity, OOCness, language, unbeta'd and character death.**

 **Word Count: 6,138**

,Everything was like a fever induced haze. In her entire life, she's only been bedridden and feverish once. She was stung by a dead dune scorpion when she traveled too far without proper gear. She managed to find her way back home but suffered for days in agony, hot and cold flashes, while sweating out all the water in herbody until she finally managed to fight it off. She was terrified, in the haze, that she would die out there alone. That she wouldn't be able to see her family again. That in her efforts to survive long enough to be able to see her family again, she ended up dying before then.

But she made it through that moment. And all of the ones that followed. No matter what came across her path, she somehow managed to survive it.

And so did Luke. Until he didn't. Again, she feels the ripping of the part of her soul that is connected to Luke being severed so fiercely. So painfully, it was like someone reached into her body and pulled out a piece of her she couldn't live without.

In a short time, Luke had become her family. Her Master had become her friend. Her confidant. They were connected, yet she wasn't able to save him. Save the piece of him that lived in her.

She hated herself for being so weak. For not being able to protect him. To not be able to be with Finn now. She's not sure that he would be able to make her feel better, but she wished he was there with her in that moment. He probably wouldn't be able to make her feel better, but at least he would try. He wouldn't let her wallow in her sadness. At least not by herself. She just knows that he would have stayed with her. Tried to help her somehow. Feel her pain too.

The image of Luke's sad, worn smile flashes in her mind. He's lived a long, sad life, but he was willing to try pushing on. At least, after she kicked him in the butt to get him in gear, he did. They spent nearly every waking moment together, even those that weren't waking. He was a constant presence in her life for over five months. They bonded and maybe she was foolish enough to love him. He looked after her, protected and taught her. They spoke about all sorts of things. It wasn't just about training. He told her about growing up on Tatooine. And she told him about Jakku.

"Jakku..." Luke had said, looking out over the vast sea, feeling the salty air wrap around them. She sits along side him, both of their legs hanging over the edge of the cliff.

"Yeah, Jakku..." Rey said, running her fingers through her hair.

Luke started to laugh, shaking his head. "What a hell hole."

"What? Jakku or Tatooine?" Rey asked, looking up at him.

Luke actually looked a mixture of deeply amused and pained by something deep in his past. "Both."

Rey opens her eyes slowly, her vision is blurry and there is something covering the lower half of her face, a mask that is filling with pure, clean air. She's in pain, like the ache in her through the Force isn't of her body. She's not sure how to explain it. She can feel this painful throbbing of her body, like she went through a strenuous work out and was paying the consequences. She was regaining her strength through the Force, but she was still completely drained and aching. Like she over worked her... um, Force muscle and was paying the price for that too.

"Stay strong, Rey," Luke says in her ear, his voice haunting like a whisper in the Force. "Even if your tired, the Force will always be with you. It will stay with you no matter what. You're special. Don't worry."

"Master..." Rey whispers, her blurry vision not clearing up any. It felt like he was right beside her, even now. The connection through the Force between them wasn't there, but he was somewhere close by. It doesn't make any sense. She thought she lost him. He separated himself from her - in a very painful process - but he somehow managed to survive.

Someone speaks, but she can't hear them. They sound so far away. And then she feels Luke start to leave her. But she doesn't want him to leave. She's not ready for him to leave. She thought she lost him. She thought that he was gone forever, and now he was leaving her.

"Master..!" Rey gasps. She looks around blindly, waving her right hand around, trying to distinguish the moving blobs of color around her. "No! Master, please don't go!"

She quickly pushes herself up on the uncomfortable bed, her body throbbing in protest at the action, reaching out to grab at her Master, but she misses and falls onto the smooth floor. She hits her knees hard first, then her hands, but she can't feel it. It's so dull in comparison to the pain in the Force. Someone grabs onto her shoulders, pulling her up to her feet. People are talking and pulling at her, trying to get her to sit down back on the uncomfortable bed. The mask, that was jarred off her face when she fell, is replaced.

Rey pushes the flurry of hands away from her, trying to see her Master's familiar peppered hair in the blur, but she can't find him. "Master!"

Someone pushes her down onto the bed before leaning over her. Gentle, kind blue eyes come in crystal clear. "Hush now, darling," a man's voice says. A pretty lilt to his voice that is somehow familiar. "You are too weak to be moving about. Rest." She starts to mumble, pushing away the hands that grab hold of her, but her words are slurred and incoherent. "You're deeply wounded in the Force, you need some time to heal before you can move about."

Rey's eyes slide closed once more.

* * *

The next time she wakes up, she's exhausted, but surprisingly feeling better than the last time she woke up. She opens her eyes and looks around what can only be described as a med lab. It's a crisp clean white with all sorts of machines around that she couldn't even begin to tell someone what they were or did, and it smelled very clean, not something that Rey was used to.

She was alone in the room, so she takes a moment to pull off the breathing mask on her face and sit up. Her body is sore, but thankfully she feels so much better in the Force. It's tender and rubbed raw, the places that Luke occupied, but other than that, she feels good. She feels well enough to be up and about. She wasn't really the type of person to be laying the day away. She would much rather get up and do something.

Rey pulls off all of the cords and pushes her feet over the side and catches her boots resting on the floor of the medical berth. Rey slips them on and laces them up tight before standing up. She waits a moment, letting the spinning in her head orient before looking around the room again. She hears someone walking into the room and turns her eyes to the door as three men walk into the room, one is dark hair and eyes wearing medical scrubs while the other two are dressed up in painfully familiar white armor.

First Order Stormtrooper members.

As has become natural for Rey over the months under Luke's care and working with the Resistance, Rey jumps to her feet and races toward the armored individual. She didn't know where she was or how she got there, but she had to find Luke and get out of there. She couldn't fall prey to the First Order. Luke was very adamant about it. Rey was very powerful in the Force. _Very._ And Luke was certain that Snoke would be trying to get her. She had to be constantly vigilant and keep away from grossly dangerous situation if she can avoid it.

Snoke couldn't have her, that's all Luke would say.

Rey didn't want to be with Snoke anyway. She would much rather be with her master and her friends. She's not sure how he found her, but she was going to find Luke and get out of wherever she was.

Poe and Finn would have been proud of the arching kick she performed on the trooper to her left, closer to her, soaring through the air and landing the flat part of her foot onto the center of his chest, knocking him down. The man next to the other, yelps and scampers out of the way, deeper into the room to get away from the fight that's about to break out.

The stormtrooper that Rey kicked in the chest hits the back wall, scrambling to keep his balance but slides down to the ground, his clunky armor making it hard for him to perform a precise act under a surprise attack. The other stormtrooper gasps in surprise before raising his blaster at her, yelling, "Halt right there!" But Rey's on a roll.

She turns to him, grabbing the barrel of the blaster and pointing it away, should he pull the trigger and pulls herself closer to him, brining her right arm back and aiming a sharp, hard punch to the black piece of his body glove that covers his neck. He chokes, loosening his grip on his blaster enough for Rey to pull it from his hand before flipping him over with her free arm onto his back in time for the first stormtrooper to get back onto his feet, looking around wildly for his own blaster that he lost when she got him.

It's by Rey's foot, next to the second stormtrooper, who's too busy choking on the pain in his throat to think to grab it, giving Rey enough time to kick it away from the two stormtroopers and from the - medic? doctor? - behind her, standing in the corner. He could be trained too, for all she knows. She's not going to risk it.

Realizing it's too late, the first stormtrooper climbs to his feet, looking around, trying to find a way to get the better of her, but Rey is not going to give him the time to find it. She straps the blaster to her side, painfully aware that her lightsaber is missing - that's just something she is going to have to find later, for now she has to get out of this situation.

Rey steps closer to the stormtrooper, ready to fight. Now, Rey has spent all of her life fighting. The elements, other scavengers, wildlife, Stormtroopers and Kylo Ren that one time. She knows how to fight and she isn't always armed, so she would like to believe that her hand-to-hand combat is pretty good. She's spent a great portion of her life in scrap fights and gained a bit of class with Luke and the Resistance.

So, she is decently surprised when she throws the first punch - other than the awesome kick she landed earlier that she's not certain she'll be able to do ever again - he immediately got into his element. They swipe blows, fighting in tandem against one another. While she's a scrapper with a bit of refinery done on her style of fighting, he is highly trained. His moves are fluid and refined. She wasn't expecting that he would be so well trained - although she probably should have been, since the stormtroopers were trained since they were young - and he seemed surprised by her strength.

Rey aims for the parts of his body where it's just the body glove and not the armor itself, but to throw him off, she'll land a strike on the armor, ignoring the burning in her fists and feet when she does. He stumbles a bit and she uses it to her advantage, punching him hard in the side, where his kidneys would be, knowing that he felt it - at least a bit - through the armor, before knocking his feet out from under him and throwing him across the room. He lands next to the bed she woke up on and she steps over to him, stepping onto his neck with her right foot, pressing down threateningly before pulling the blaster from her side and pointing it at the medic who stepped closer to try and help his comrade.

Both men freeze as the second stormtrooper rolls onto his side and looks over at them.

"Damn it! Lucky! Are you okay?"

The stormtropper under her foot shifts a bit, coughing lightly. "Ouch. That hurt..."

"What's going on in here?"

Rey looks over at four men rushing into the room. Two are in the stormtrooper armor, one with blue markings and other with yellow markings, while the two leading were dressed in robes. One in a smooth, tan colored robes while the other one is in black robes. It's the one in the black robes that spoke - the taller of the four of them - with his eyes narrowed looking around at the mess they made in their fight.

The one in the tan robes is taller than Rey, just by a few inches, with blond hair swept to the side to keep them from his wide, light blue eyes. He's got a full beard and mustache that is well groomed and cared for. Through the Force, he's completely calm and relaxed, even his posture is relaxed, like he was taking a stroll down the street without a care in the world.

The one in the dark black and red robes is taller than the man in the tan robes by a few more inches, so he towers over Rey. His brown hair is slightly longer overall than the blond man, with loose light brown curls around his neckline. His face is smooth and without blemish of any kind, except for the large, prominent scar over his right eye, giving him a dangerous look. His eyes are a peculiar steel blue color. And through the Force, his presence is wild and powerful, projecting a huge image of himself that is very imposing but also seemingly unintentional. On the outside, he body is slightly tensed up, ready to move if he needs to, but not enough to put everyone on alert.

The blond man holds his hands up when he notices Rey's got a blaster pointed at the medic and stepping on the throat of the stormtrooper. They definitely weren't dressed like any First Order personnel that she has come across. And if anything, their robes are similar to what Luke wears. Realizing that only makes Rey angry, like they were mocking her master somehow.

Rey's jaw starts to work, annoyed and angry by the action.

"My lightsaber," Rey says to the two men, obviously in charge and very strong in the Force. "Where is it?"

"There is no need to be hasty," the blond man says, still holding his up to show he's unarmed. He shifts slightly and Rey's eyes catch a glint off of something metal on his side. It's a lightsaber. But it's not her own. Or Luke's. Another Sith?

"There is always two," Luke's voice echoes in her mind. "Remember that, Rey. A master and an apprentice."

That doesn't make any sense. Maybe they aren't considered "actual Sith"? None of this is making any sense to Rey. She's certain that she paid close attention to whatever Luke said in regard to their history - seeing as he knew it better than he did and lived through some of it - and about their enemies; both the First Order and the Sith. She never had someone willing to teach her before Luke. Everything she knew, it was either from snippets of conversations between other people or things she learned by herself.

"Where is my lightsaber?" Rey asks, pressing closer to the stormtrooper's throat beneath him. She looks over her shoulder at the medic behind her, casting a glare his way when he tried inching toward the blaster. He freezes when her eyes settle on him. He holds his hands up high, looking frightened. Either he was worried she was going to shoot him, or she was going to kill the man she was practically standing on. "Move one more time..."

"I won't, ma'am, I'm sorry!" the medic says. "Please don't hurt my brother."

Rey's eye twitches at that. "Brother?" The pressure she had on the stormtrooper's neck lessens. The trooper gasps, trying to fill his lungs with as much air as he can, while he can. She didn't know that the First Order kidnapped siblings - although she supposed it wouldn't be that surprising if they did - but also that they knew that they were siblings. Finn always said that he was taken from his family so young that he doesn't remember anything about them. What they look like, their names, or even his own name before being taken.

All of this is slowly making less and less sense.

"Let's all calm down," the smooth voice says, pulling Rey's attention over to the two men in charge. The stormtroopers in yellow and blue both slowly step around the two men in the robes and she sees the blasters in their hands. A rifle in the yellow and white armored stormtroopers hands and duel pistols in the white and blue armored stormtroopers.

The dark robed man sees where her eyes go and holds his hands up, quickly. "Hold on. Rex, Cody, place your blasters on the ground. There is no need for anyone to act rash."

"But, General..."

"Rex, now," the man - General? - says, looking down at the slightly shorter man. Rex? Cody? Lucky? Were these all names? How do they have names when Finn didn't? Poe gave Finn his name during their rescue/escape?

Rey's head is starting to hurt.

Obediently, the two stormtroopers put their blasters onto the ground in front of them and kick them away.

"Why are you being so accommodating?" Rey asks, narrowing her eyes. "You can't trick me like this."

"We aren't trying to trick you," the blond says. "We think this is all one big misunderstanding. No one here wants to hurt you. There is no need for anyone to get hurt. We just want to talk through this calmly. We don't want you to hurt one of our boys because your afraid."

Rey's eyes narrow. "I am not afraid," Rey snaps. "Not of you. Any of you. Now, where is my lightsaber?"

"Nice word play, Negotiator," the taller of the two says, glaring at the blond.

"I'm sorry," the Negotiator says diplomatically, casting an exasperated look at the General before looking back at Rey. "Forgive me. As for your lightsaber, I have it. I would love to give it back, but I'm worried about the safety of my boys."

"Why?" Rey asks, confused. "I've never heard of you guys caring about the troopers before? What ploy are you playing at?"

The blond's eyebrows pull together in confusion rather than insult, like the other man seemed to take it as.

"Why do you say that?" the blond asks.

"These are my troops," the brunette snaps, eyes narrowed dangerously. "I take care of my boys."

"Anakin, please," the blond says. "Tensions are already running high. Don't let this get to you. There is more to this, just relax, alright?" The older man's words seems to calm him down at bit. His metaphorical hackles lowers slowly but surely, as the anger that filtered into the Force settles down.

"You mean that..." Rey says, surprised by the genuineness of his words.

"Of course I do," the brunette, Anakin, says, eyebrows pulled together still but the glare is gone. "These boys are my responsibility. One of which you're crushing his windpipe."

"Not yet I'm not," Rey says. "Where is Master Luke?"

"Who?" Anakin asks, blinking at her in confusion. "I've never heard of a master named Luke. Obi-Wan?"

The blond man rubs at his beard. "No, I don't know whom you are speaking about either. But listen, if you are looking for someone, we can help you find him. You have to let Lucky and Spinner go, though."

"I don't trust you, First Order," Rey says, glaring at him. "How do I know that you didn't take Master Luke to Kylo Ren or Snoke when you had the chance in his weakened state?" She was letting these people distract her. She can't let them. She has to find her Master, her lightsaber and get out of there before they get to wherever they're going - somewhere Snoke or Kylo Ren might be.

She can't run the risk of fighting Kylo Ren again or come face to face with Snoke. She isn't strong enough to fight them, especially two on one. She wasn't ready just yet. She still needed more training and discipline before she was ready to open up that can of worms - and hopefully with Luke by her side. She was going to need him too.

"What did you call us?" Obi-Wan asks. "What is the First Order?"

His confusion is so painfully genuine, it gives Rey pause, even though she didn't want it to. There is something about these men that are so familiar, she can't figure out how to stay focused on simply getting out. She's being pulled in so many different directions by what they say, what people are doing, and how they are acting. None of this is making any sense.

They don't know the organization that they work for?

"It's the organization that you and these stormtroopers work for," Rey says, waving the blaster around a bit, casting a look over at the medic to see that he is smartly in the same place as he was the last time she looked at him. She turns her attention back to the two Force users in front of her. "What are you trying to play at?"

"What did you call them?" Anakin asks.

"Stormtroopers," the blue and white armored stormtrooper says, looking over at him.

"I've never heard of that division," the yellow and white stormtrooper says.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Obi-Wan says, casting a glance down at the stormtrooper beneath Rey's foot to see him wave weakly at him, still able to breath since she loosened the pressure she was applying to his neck. "Are you okay, Lucky?"

"Any time you could convince her to let this lowly clone live, General, I would appreciate it," the stormtrooper beneath Rey's foot says, sheepish.

Obi-Wan looks up at Rey. "You seemed surprised by Spinner calling Lucky his brother." Rey doesn't respond, her head spinning. "Can I ask why?"

"I... thought you First Order people kidnapped them too young for them to remember such things," Rey admits. Their aura in the Force, both Anakin and Obi-Wan, is clear. There is tinges of darkness in Anakin's but nothing in comparison to some people that she's met. Obi-Wan's aura is by far the purest she has ever seen. It's by far more pure than even Luke. Now Rey is starting to have a bad feeling about this.

"Kidnapped?" Rex echoes, then looks over at Anakin. "Okay, now I'm a believer."

"You got it wrong," the other stormtrooper, probably Cody, says. "We weren't kidnapped. We're clones. Clonetroopers."

"Clones?" Rey echoes, blinking in confusion. "I... I don't understand."

"They are all clones of the same person," Anakin says, the dangerous feeling leaking into the Force vanishes in an instant, like he's come to realize that she's not dangerous anymore. That doesn't make her feel any better. "They see each other as brothers, but they are all clones."

"That's impossible," Rey says. She looks down at Lucky. No way. That's impossible. All of the Stormtroopers that were clones... that all existed when Luke was younger. They grew old and died once the Empire and Darth Vader died. This can't be right. Something is very _very_ wrong with what's going on here. "Take off your helmet."

"Uhh..." the storm - clone? - trooper looks over at the two Force users across the room. "Generals..?"

"Do it, Lucky," Anakin says, nodding.

Rey releases his neck a little more, keeping a close eye on him as he wiggles out of his helmet to reveal... the exact same face as the medic. Rey's eyes widen in surprise. She looks between the medic - Spinner? - and Lucky. Her doe brown eyes blown wide. Their faces were exactly the same. That's impossible. There is no way they are clones!

She looks up at the other trooper she fought. "Take your helmet off." He does, showing a bold head, but the safe is exactly the same. Triplets. They are trying to trick her. They have to be. She looks over at Rx and Cody, to see them already taking their helmets off too, revealing the same face. Five. That's five of them. There is no way that they could all be the exact same face. No way! No way!

If they are clonetroopers, and aren't bad... This doesn't make any sense. All of the clones died years ago, all the facilities that used to manufacture them were shut down after the Republic fell and then were destroyed some time later, according to General Organa. Rey could sit and speak with Leia for hours on end about the Republic. The one that came before the time she was born into, before the First Order took over. Leia and her own were said to be the ones that helped rebuild the Republic that she was born into.

Rey steps off of the clonetrooper, stepping back slowly, bringing her hands up to her head, trying to make sense of all the thoughts and memories circling around in her head. How did she get here? Where exactly was here? Why was she here to begin with? What was with that temple that she and Luke were looking into? Does it have some sort of connection to this moment in time?

Wow, that sounded ridiculous in her own head.

Time travel doesn't happen, not like this. People don't suddenly get thrown back in time! That is things only told in story books or old folklore. It's not something that actually happens. Not to someone like her. She isn't suppose to be back in time. She's suppose to be where she was, with her master, her friends, her cause. She was suppose to be there, helping them. Yet, she's... not?

She's completely alone again?

No, Luke. She felt Luke! She knows she did! She may not have been very lucid in her sensing abilities or her rationality, but she knows her master. He's got to be here with her somehow.

Reaching out with her senses, trying to locate her master's Force signature in a last ditch effort to stem the panic grappling at her heart. Her senses flood the ship, so many people, all with the same feeling about them - clones. They must be. But there are others. Regular people. And another Force sensitive, right outside the door, feeling in. Rey's senses brush against his - _hers._

She is not Luke. Nor are the two men in the room with her.

But they brush back against her in the Force. It's a strange thing, when all three of them brush back against her. A sign of familiarity that she only shared with her Master. And Leia, late into their relationship, simply because Leia didn't use the Force as strongly and in some ways, became a bit deafened to it. Luke had told her, it was something he had learned to do with his many padawan. It's how he taught them to feel the Force and bond with him. He was their master and they needed to familiarize themselves with him.

It's a sign of trust, in a way.

All of their aura's mixed together - the three other Force sensitive on board - all trusted each other so deeply it's like their bond was filled with it, making Rey want to fall in tow. It's odd, maybe because Rey has little experience in the Force, and with others - and with others in the Force - but their connection is strong between them. A lot of trust and mutual respect, care and even love for one another.

Intentionally, or perhaps a simple accident, they brush up against the Rey's wound in the Force, the place that Luke once occupied. A place that was sore and throbbing, intensified as a feeling of familiarity and loss wash over her. She sees, behind her eyelids squeezed so tightly, the image of her master's green lightsaber spinning about in the darkness as it swallows him up, and the pain is fresh - and intensified.

In her heart, Rey knew that was her Master's final moments she was watching. She just didn't want to accept it. She didn't want him to be gone, because then, the loneliness in her heart would surely take over. Rey has always felt alone, to some degree, all her life. Alone and lost. _Unwanted._ And the people that accepted her, that came to love her and think of her as someone, someone to return to, are all gone. If she is not with them, they are as good as dead at this point. The chances of her ever seeing them again is so slim, it's practically nonexistent.

In the Force, Rey pulls back quickly from the three of them, the feeling of loss and pain turns to agony as the wound grows in the Force. She pulls so tightly back into herself to try and swallow the agony. Leia, Luke, Poe, Finn, BB-8, they were all gone.

Once again, Rey was alone.

Whomever said it was better to have love and lost than never to have loved at all can take a stroll through the black dunes on Jakku because this pain is unlike anything. It's like her family is abandoning her all over again. She couldn't help but be pulled back to when she was a small child, around six years old, begging for the first family that left her behind to come back to her. She waited about thirteen years for her family to come back to her and they never did, so she found a new one and in six impossibly short months, they're gone to.

Never mind how she got here, she couldn't care less about that. What was she suppose to do now? Why would Luke do this to her? Had she done something to upset him? Had he simply decided that she was too much of a liability there? She wasn't learning fast enough in order to stand against Kylo Ren and eventually his dark master? Had he come to not care for her, as her original family had?

Had her master come to hate her?

"Stop that this instance."

Rey looks up, her eyes blown wide as she stares at Obi-Wan, who was now no more than a foot in front of her. In the maelstrom of thoughts and feelings that circled around in her head that she was lost in, she stumbled away from the clone and into a corner against the wall, clutching onto her head and curled up against it, propping herself onto the wall in order to help hold her up. Maybe she had started crying, or yelling? She didn't know. Her throat was constricted so tightly she's not sure she would have been able to make any noise at all.

Obi-Wan stares down into her eyes for a moment, waiting until she is fully focused on him before settling heavy hands on her shoulders and saying, meaningfully, "As someone whose master died in battle before his very eyes, I understand the feeling of wondering if perhaps it was my wrong-doing that somehow made it seem like he chose death over staying with me."

Staring up into this man's eyes, Rey felt a kinship with him on level she never felt with anyone else. It couldn't just be because of what he was saying, could it? It felt like so much more than that. Their few, fledgling moments together was enough to form a bond that she can actually feel. It's nothing like the one she and Luke shared, but it's not something she understands. She didn't know this man, she didn't trust him, but she found herself hanging onto his very words, because through this strange little bond they have forming, she can feel his pain. His own master being ripped away from him in an instant.

But his bond with his master was so much more than her own. His was forged over many years with his master, but even so, the moment he lost his master, was the same feeling in the moment she lost her own. Neither were ready to let them go.

"But," Obi-Wan says, his voice softening, "taking a Padawan of my own changed everything. Now I know that a Master's true purpose other than to prepare their Padawan for everything that could happen to them and hope that they'll be able to remember themselves and others in the desperate and dark moments, is that there is nothing more painful than the possibility of outliving your Padawan."

Over Obi-Wan's shoulder, Rey sees Anakin's eyes widen, also listening to Obi-Wan's words as they coil deep within him. Perhaps its something he wasn't expecting the other man to say, or something he simply didn't think about before.

"One of the greatest pains in the world, I imagine, would be outliving our Padawan," Obi-Wan reiterates, drawing Rey's large, dark eyes back to his own. "With them, our hope for the future lives on, so, in the heat of battle, it is the master's duty to die in the place of his Padawan. Those that we are currently training, and those that we trained years prior. It matters not. We die, so that they may live. Your master didn't hate you, simply he chose death because it would prevent something far worse from happening to the one that he swore to look after and care for."

Rey could sense the strength and wisdom in his words and could easily close her eyes and imagine Luke speaking to her. She wasn't sure what it was about this man, but he was definitely something else.

Feeling vulnerable, but thankfully not in any danger, Rey asks, softly, "What am I suppose to do now?"

Obi-Wan stares back at her, somberly. "I don't know," he says honestly. "But we aren't going to just abandon you, young one. This, I swear. Anakin, Ahsoka and I will help you out, however we can." Over Obi-Wan's shoulder, Rey sees a young Togruta stepping into the room and over to Anakin, looking up at him curiously before looking over at them, with wide, wise blue eyes.

Rey didn't know these people, didn't trust them, but somehow, in just that moment, she was willing to believe them. Something was going on, she didn't know what. Luke never did anything without reason, and while she's hurt, being alone once more, Luke had to have somehow sent her here for a reason. And the reason has her feeling so very sick.

 _For the Reviewers:_

 _1\. CzarZelinsky: Thank you! I'm sorry about the wait!_

 _2\. MagicMoocher: Yep! It's starting to become what I'm known for, I think. XD Thanks! I hope I can live up to your expectations!_

 _3\. Gun toten Girly: I don't really get it but, I love you too! :D_


	3. Get to know

**Author's Note: Sorry for the wait, y'all! I am loving the attention that this story is getting! I love hearing from all of you! I am open to pairings for the characters so let me know what y'all would like! Let me know what you think! Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

 **Warnings: Lack of main story continuity, OOCness, language, and unbeta'd.**

 **Word Count: 4,619**

"I'm Obi-Wan Kenobi," Obi-Wan says, after Rey has calmed down and is sitting on the bed she was occupying for Force knows how long. The medic is looking over Rey, making sure she's alright while Anakin, Obi-Wan and the little togruta stand before her. Rey looks over at Spinner as he checks her vitals, expertly, mumbling a soft apology to which he offered a little smile and a "All is forgiven, ma'am" before continuing his job.

"Anakin Skywalker."

"Ahsoka Tano." The orange skinned girl says. She crosses her arms over her chest and leaning against one hip, her single lightsaber swinging a bit at the movement.

Rey rubs at her forehead. "I'm Rey." She pauses, before her head snaps up to Anakin, locking eyes with him. The moment it does, she realizes that Anakin's eyes are the exact same as Luke's. A pretty, unique steely blue. How in the world had she not noticed it before. "Wait! Skywalker?" Her entire face lights up. "You know Luke? Don't you?"

Anakin blinks in surprise. "Uhh..?"

"Why do you think Master would know your Master?" Ahsoka asks, blue eyes wide.

"Luke's name," Rey says, grinning so hard that her face is nearly split in two. "It's the same!"

Anakin's eyebrows shoot toward his hairline, honestly surprised by her words. "Wait, name? You mean...?" Obi-Wan's eyebrows pull together tightly, looking between the two of them, curiously.

"Skywalker," Rey says. "That's Luke's name too! Luke Skywalker."

"Long lost family?" Ahsoka asks, looking up at the tall brunette. She offers a quirky smile that fades when it's not returned by the brunet.

"No, my mother didn't have any family, and I was her only child," Anakin says, shaking his head. "This doesn't make any sense. Skywalker isn't a common name. In fact my mother was the only person other than myself that had that name that I know of."

"Luke Skywalker was a hero who helped stop the - " Rey chokes on her words, realizing what she was going to say. He stopped the galactic empire. The clone troopers are good? These people are strong in the Force - the _light_ side of the Force - and there's many of them? At least three. That's technically more than she knew. Luke was strong, Leia was strong, but vastly untrained, and Finn had the Force in him too, but his training was slow going.

"Rey?" Obi-Wan says, narrowing his eyes a bit. "What is it?"

"Jedi..?" Rey mumbles. "Are you Jedi?"

"Yes," Anakin says, steel blue eyes locked onto her face. "I'm a Knight, Obi-Wan is a Master and Ahsoka is my Padawan."

"Jedi... and the Republic?" She looks up at them, dark eyes wide.

"Yes, what about the Republic?" Ahsoka asks, shifting back and forth. Spinner finishes looking over Rey, fills something out on a chart before excusing himself from the room. Rey didn't know how to respond to that. Could she... be in the past? Now this is completely crazy. This isn't something that happens, is it?

"Am I in the past?" Rey asks, softly. "Is this during the Clone Wars?" She looks up at Obi-Wan, then Anakin, then Ahsoka.

Ahsoka's large eyes grow wider, as she looks up at Anakin. "Uh, oh..."

Anakin's eyebrows pull together tighter. "No way. What are you saying?"

"Master Luke was born at the end of the clone wars," Rey says, her hands gripping the fabric of her pants tightly. "Is he... not born yet?" If her heart could plummet past her feet, they would have, but it stopped there, unable to go further.

Rex and Cody, who were standing off to the side quietly, both share identical looks that Rey doesn't understand. She can't tell what their facial expressions mean. She has to look away, she doesn't know how to read them.

"Wait, does that mean that-" Anakin cuts himself off, stopping what he was going to say. Obi-Wan glances over at him, curiously, opening his mouth to ask something, before he closes it again, deciding against it for now. Rey brings her hands up to her face, running her fingers through her long brown hair, pulling annoyed at the tangles.

"How... how is that even possible?" Ahsoka asks, looking up at Obi-Wan, then to Anakin. There is thin creases between her eyes. Her long, thin orange fingers curl and uncurl in fists at her side, as if suddenly anxious.

"I don't know," Obi-Wan says, eyeing Rey with mixed emotions on his face. On one hand, he doesn't want to believe that blatant question as a possibility for what is going on, but he's feeling her out through the Force and watching her facial expression, he can see the confusion, and hurt, at her own question. She wants them to tell her that she's wrong someone, that the reality they know - they are in the Clone Wars - isn't correct with her own fears.

Her large brown eyes flicker between them, trying to get one of them to just tell her that she's crazy. Anakin looks lost in his thoughts, half turned away with his head bowed and his eyebrows pulled together tightly. Ahsoka is looking around, worried and confused, trying to decide what she is suppose to think and feel about all of this. Obi-Wan also appeared to be lost in thought, trying to decide how much stalk he wants to put into all of this, and if he decides to believe it all, then that would mean he would have to decide what to do next.

A real brain buster, for all of them.

Rey rests her hands on her thighs, balling them up into tight fists, clenching some of the cloth on her legs between her fingers.

"That's crazy, right?" Rey asks, looking up at the three Jedi in front of her with wide brown eyes. "There has to be some sort of logical explanation, right?"

"I wish," Ahsoka mumbles, crossing her arms over her thin chest and leans onto one hip. "This is just a huge mess if you ask me. If you really did somehow time travel," she makes a look at that, like the words tasted weird, "how did that all happen? I saw... something when we touched through the Force, but I didn't really understand it," Ahsoka admits. She looks down, blue eyes flickering about in thought.

Rey's shoulders droop a bit, as if they could go any further. "I don't really remember. We went to this planet - a strange planet where no life lived on it - and found a temple there. I didn't know much about it, other than that Master said it was much older than any of the temples he's come across. There was something inside, some sort of artifact..." Rey's eyebrows pull together, desperately trying to remember but having more trouble than she feels like she should.

"An artifact?" Anakin perks up at that, finally being pulled from his thoughts. He looks over at Obi-Wan. "Some kind of Sith artifact, maybe?"

Ob-Wan strokes his beard slowly, nodding. "Perhaps, if the temple is exceedingly old, then it may have been an ancient sith artifact that brought you here. And if it was, there is the chance that this artifact may have actually done some good in our place, but not so much your own." He looks down at her, sympathetically, to show her he knows that his words were a bit callous.

Rey had already sort of figured as much that none of this was for her benefit, but hadn't thought about how it could help others. One of the things that fascinated her was Luke and Leia's childhood stories about the Republic before the one Rey was born into. Heroic stories of valiant leaders and Jedi numbering in the _thousands_. Keepers of the peace, as far as the eye can see.

Just how many of those stories were real? What is a real Jedi is like? One raised by the Order? One surrounded by other Jedi? What was the Order like? How was the Republic formatted? How were the people? How was everything? Rey wanted to know. She wanted to see. She wanted to experience and be in that moment.

But more than anything else, she wanted Luke to be there with her. Luke, Finn, Poe and Leia. She wanted them to be here too.

"What do you mean?" Rey asks softly, shaking the thoughts away. "More good to you than me? I mean, I suppose I get it about me, but what about you guys?"

Obi-Wan drops his arms to his side and looks down at her. "You can help us have a better outlook for the future. Give us some insight on the future. The Force is an ever flowing and changing with time and action and it's will. There is a reason that you were brought to us, Rey. There is a reason that the Force placed you before us." Obi-Wan steps forward and places his hands on her shoulders, offering a small smile. "I sense greatness in you, Rey. Great aura, great personality, and great future. Whether it is good or bad, we will see."

Inspired by the older man, Rey nods mutely, dark eyes wide. This man, this young master, couldn't have been that much older than her, yet his aura and presence within the Force was like a wise old man. With the purest Force presence that Rey has ever felt. He was like a beacon of pure light. Rey isn't sure exactly what it is about him that is so pure, but his aura is unlike anything she has ever felt.

"I sense greatness in you as well, Master Kenobi," Rey says, looking past him at his aura. "I have never seen an aura so beautiful and pure. Not even Master Luke's aura was as pure as yours."

Obi-Wan's blue eyes widen slightly before he looks away, as if embarrassed. "I... thank you for the compliment, I suppose." Anakin grins at him, while Ahsoka rubs at the back of her neck.

"What?" Rey looks around, sensing something in the air. "Did I say something wrong?"

"No," Anakin says, winking at Obi-Wan amused. "It's just that you obviously haven't been around many Force Sensitive for very long, have you?"

Rey shakes her head. "Not really. Just my master, a friend and... someone I looked up to. But my Master was the only one that was fully trained. Or, as fully trained as one can be with two masters that both passed when he was young and learned about everything on his own basically." She shrugs her shoulders. "Forgive me if my etiquette is a bit lacking, okay?"

Anakin sombers up a bit at that. "I'm sorry. I didn't - "

Rey holds up her hand to halt the apology, not seeing it necessary for him to keep going. "No worries. Now what did I do wrong?"

"You didn't do anything wrong," Anakin says, relaxing a bit since she didn't seem offended by it. "It's just how deeply you're studying his aura. It's a little..." he trails off, trying to find the right word for it.

"Personal?" Anakin decides upon at the same time as Ahsoka offers, "Invasive?" They both look at one another. Obi-Wan glares at both of them, annoyed.

Rey looks confused by that, not understanding. It didn't seem like she did anything wrong. She was just admiring Obi-Wan's aura, she didn't think she was doing anything bad. But then again, as she said, her etiquette wasn't all that good. She had to be careful when dealing with others. Luke was always telling her that her... people skills needed a bit of polishing. She wasn't very tactful when dealing with people and was quick to both believe and forgive. She had to be more careful when dealing with people.

"I'm sorry," Rey says, looking over at Obi-Wan. "I don't really understand what I did wrong, but I apologize."

Obi-Wan glares at Ahsoka and Anakin before looking over at Rey. "You didn't do anything wrong. There is nothing against studying other's auras, it's just not something people tend to look as deeply at. A simple glance gives us what we need to know. I'm just not used to it at all. There isn't a need for you to apologize for anything. Those two are just poking fun at you to lighten the mood." He glares at them again. "They will be more careful about what they say in the future, I assure you of that."

Rey doesn't really understand, but Anakin and Ahsoka at least look sheepish.

"So what are we suppose to do now?" Rey asks quietly.

"We are on our way to Coruscant, there you will stand before the Council and they will decide what we do next." Obi-Wan crosses his arms over his chest and leans against one hip. "Until then, try and center yourself, acquaint yourself with the legions here on the ship and..." Obi-Wan hesitates, before letting out a low sigh. "Try and relax, however hard that may be."

Rey scratches the back of her neck, slowly. "Thanks."

"We'll be here, to help," Ahsoka offers, giving her a kind smile.

Rey nods slowly. "Okay, thanks. Oh, but I do have one question."

"Yeah?" Ahsoka asks.

"My bag," Ahsoka says, "and my lightsaber. Where are they?"

Obi-Wan reaches behind his back and pulls her double bladed lightsaber off of his belt, out of her sight. She hadn't even realized it was right there. He holds it out for her to take. Rey does, quickly, in case he took it back. She cradles the heavy weight in her hand, relishing in its familiarity for a moment before hooking it onto her belt. She wasn't so sure she was going to need it, but it was a relief to have it back at her side.

Spinner comes walking over from behind the curtain holding up Rey's worn out satchel, holding it out to her. Rey grabs onto it and pulls it to her chest, letting out a little sigh of relief.

"We didn't go digging about inside, if you're worried," Anakin says. "Thanks, buddy."

Spinner offers a nod and a smile. "You're welcome, sir." He looks over at Rey and nods. "I can't say there is anything physically wrong with you, ma'am. You're physically worn and you're boarder-line dehydrated. Get some rest and some food and drink in you, ma'am, and you should be feeling back to tip top shape."

"Thank you," Rey says to Spinner, then to Anakin. "Thank you." She opens up the satchel and peaks inside to make sure that everything is still in there. Spare lightsaber parts, a picture of Poe, Finn and herself, one of her, Luke and Leia, Luke's lightsaber - the one that he didn't want. The special one - and an orb. A strange orb that she doesn't remember ever being there.

Obi-Wan notes the strange look that flickers across Rey's face. "Rey?" Obi-Wan calls. "What's wrong?"

Rey pulls out the large, clear white orb, not sensing anything from it, but knowing that it's familiar. Luke was holding this. He was holding it before he died. How did it get into her satchel?

"This orb, it's the artifact," Rey says, offering the orb to Obi-Wan.

Obi-One reaches out and grabs hold of it, and the inside of the orb turns a pretty powder blue and fills with Light Side energy.

"Whoa," Captain Rex says, his dark eyes wide. Rey honestly forgot that both him and Commander Cody were still there, they had been so quiet. "It changed color."

Obi-Wan looks down at it curiously. "It's drawing in my Force signature."

"What does that mean?" Ahsoka asks. "Like a kyber crystal?"

"Sort of," Obi-Wan says, turning the orb around in his hand, curiously. "It's almost like it changes properties based on who is holding it. I don't even know what kind of artifact that it is. Or, even what it does. But it is... curious."

"Can I see it?" Ahsoka asks, anxiously, her blue eyes brightening.

"Snips," Anakin starts, crossing his hands over his chest.

"What?" Ahsoka pouts, giving him a half look over her shoulder at her master. He rolls his eyes and offers a little smirk at Obi-Wan who offers it to the young Padawan. "Ooh!" Ahsoka carefully cradles it in her hands as it darkens to a more neutral blue a touch lighter. Light Side energy pulses out of it. Ahsoka looks in awe, carefully rolling the back and forth. "Wow..."

"Master Luke took it from that Temple and then... somehow it got to me after he..." Rey hesitates, wrapping her arms around her satchel and tilting her head. "He had it when.. when he..." she couldn't finish that. She still couldn't just blatantly admit that he was dead. It hurt to think about it, but saying it aloud was still difficult. Or, impossible.

Ahsoka holds out the orb for Rey to take. She hesitates a moment, not really wanting to touch the very last thing that her master did before he died, but then again _it was the last thing he touched before he died_. Rey takes it, watches as it return to it's neutral, clear color. She sends some of her Force energy into it and watches as it changes into a pretty light blue color, not as light as Obi-Wan's though, before sticking it into her satchel and closing the lip.

* * *

Rey walks through the halls of the ship - a ship that would be considered ancient in her time, but was only a few years old, built for this war - still in awe of all of the clones. It's one thing to hear it, it's another to actually see it. There was slight differences between them, hair colors and cuts, some had tattoos while others had scars, and some even had different colored eyes. Most primarily brown, but some are blue and green. Their faces are exactly the same, but there is slight differences that set them apart from one another.

It's hard to remember their names and their faces, but over the last two days, she's been trying to. Rex and Cody were easy, their armor is different and they are never usually seen without them, but everyone else is a little iffy. Thankfully, this isn't their first rodeo and don't seem to mind resupplying Rey their names when she doesn't recall, so there's that.

Everyone has been both kind and accommodating. Any animosity that may have built up between Rey, Ahsoka, Obi-Wan and Anakin over the debacle with Spinner, Lucky and the other clone, Echo, being held... um, captive? Yeah, they have seemed to have forgiven and forgotten. Even Rex and Cody seem relaxed by it. When Rey saw the three again, she made sure to apologize for hurting Lucky and Echo and threatening Spinner. All forgave her and even seemed appreciative of the apology, even Rex and Cody seemed happy that she was willing to apologize again.

It seemed natural to her, so she wasn't sure why they were overly proud of it, but so long as no one was mad anymore, she was willing to look passed the oddity.

They have been offering each other a respectful space. They aren't overwhelming Rey with many questions she knows that they probably have, perhaps two pronged reasoning. One being that she's overwhelmed with being thrown completely for a loop in a new time - and that's something everyone is still trying to wrap their minds around - and coming to terms with each of their levels of disbelief. And two, being that she's not even sure that she would be able to answer any of the questions that they would have because of her own growing disbelief and confusion.

"Rey," a man's voice taps into the comm Rex gave her on her wrist. If she recalled... the voice was Admiral Wolffe Yularen.

"Admiral?" Rey says slowly, hoping she was right. She was still getting used to this.

"Generals Kenobi and Skywalker along with Commander Tano wanted me to inform you that we have reached Coruscant and for you to head down to the hanger to meet with them and transport to the planet's surface," Admiral Yularen says, easily.

"Alright," Rey says, spinning around where she is, trying to orient herself, before heading toward the hanger after getting a mental picture of where she is. These venater class warships are a lot bigger than she's used to. She's still trying to learn her way around and memorize the people that surround her. It's slow going, but she's actually liking it here. Focusing on the numerous clones - two battalion, the 212 and the 501st - and the complex layout of their ships has been a welcome distraction in trying not to think about her friends and her master.

It doesn't stop the nightmares. There isn't really any of Finn, Poe or Leia. Just brief flashes of them, staring unhappily back at her, but the main one playing over and over again on an agonizing repeat is the death of her master. Is feeling him be ripped from her over and over again. Of him sacrificing his life for her own with some scary darkness swirling around him. She doesn't understand what that darkness was. She doesn't know what she saw, what it was, just that it killed her master. It was something in that temple that killed her master.

She didn't even know where to find that temple again. It was sort of an accident that lead then there. It was something in the Force that Luke so faintly felt Rey didn't even know where they were going. It was all Luke. He was the one that lead them there, he was the one that located the temple on that beautiful green world that didn't have an ounce of life on it before they stepped onto it's surface.

Rey isn't even sure she'll be able to remember how to get herself back there.

Rey forces that thoughts away. She can't think about that now. She's spent the last couple of days with just that occupying her mind more than it should and she's starting to get the headache back from earlier because of it.

It takes Rey longer than she cares to admit to find her way to the hanger, but when she gets there, the three Jedi are there waiting for her, talking with Rex and Cody.

"We aren't sure how long we will be here," Anakin was saying, "so be sure to keep ready in case we need to suddenly move out." He looks between the two clones. Both of them snap to attention and nod.

"Yes, sir," Cody says.

"Very well, General Skywalker," Rex says, offering a stiff nod, before looking over at Rey approaching.

Rey looks between them. "We're going to Corscant now?" She asks, honestly intrigued. She's never been to Coruscant but it was the center of galactic community. It was where the Republic's heart lay, same with the Empire, the Republic again. She had never been there, but had heard many amazing stories about it and honestly couldn't wait to see it. So many powerful people doing everything they could to keep the galactic civilization running, the Jedi are here to help keep the peace, and it's where so many different species have made their home. A wonderful, powerful, city-wide planet filled with life.

Rey couldn't wait to see it. She couldn't imagine a city spanning a planet, and to be filled to the brim with people. It's so exciting.

"Sorry about that," Rey says, joining their circle.

"You're okay," Ahsoka says. "I'm still getting lost when it comes to this place." She makes a wide gesture to the ship around her. "It'll just take some getting used to, is all."

"I wasn't lost," Rey says, crossing her arms over her chest and leans on one hip. "I was a bit disoriented but I found my way down here easily enough."

"Sure," Ahsoka says, rolling her eyes good-naturedly. Rey glares at her a bit, but doesn't respond, figuring the younger girl is just pulling on her leg. Normally, she wouldn't be able to understand her humor, but Ahsoka kind of reminds her of Poe. He had some sarcastic jokes that started to prepare her for the humor of others. Although nothing could have prepared her for the silver tongue of Anakin Skywalker and his former master, the king of sass, Obi-Wan Kenobi.

She is really starting to like them. They are really growing on her.

"Hello, ma'am," Cody says, tipping his head in welcome, offering a thin smile.

"Commander Cody, I haven't seen you at all today," Rey says, looking up at the slightly taller clone.

Cody adjusts his grip on his helmet pressed against his hip. "I've been training the troops this morning. When the 212 and 501st are together Captain Rex and myself usually switch out training the men, running them through the drills." He shrugs his shoulders.

Rey smiles a bit. "Does that mean that the 212 and the 501st aren't always together?"

Cody shakes his head. "No, ma'am, we are two separate divisions that just have the luxury of doing a lot of joint missions."

Rey's dark eyes flicker between the two clones, curiously. Learning to read the expressions of others was never her strong suit, but no matter how much time she spends watching them, she'll never be able to read them, seeing as one twitch in one's eyebrow on one clone could mean something entirely different than the same twitch but on another clone's face. As curious as it is to study, she's not optimistic that she'll ever really figure it out.

But it does help occupy her mind too. So there's that.

"Are you ready to go?" Anakin asks, uncrossing his arms from across his chest.

Rey nods, feeling an eagerness in the pit of her stomach going all the way down to her toes. "Yep, let's go."

"Our first stop will be at the Jedi Temple," Obi-Wan informs her, turning to climb the cargo ramp, waving his hand for them to follow. Ahsoka looks up at the ship, sighs, and follows after him.

"Alright," Anakin says, looking down at Rey with pretty steel blue eyes. "Hop onto the Twilight. The council won't wait all day." His smile is thin. He turns and walks up the ramp. Rey waves at Rex and Cody half heartedly before following after them.

 _For the Reviewers:_

 _1\. Gun toten Girly: Aww, you are so super cute! I actually really enjoy hearing from you as well! Thank you so much for that! I hope that Luke's relationship with Rey doesn't seem one dimensional. It's important to Rey and will continue to push her forward. Yes, I don't imagine that there will be many chapters where she isn't somehow thinking about Luke and missing him. I've been thinking about her heritage, but haven't come up with a solid decision, so I'm open to hearing about that too. I love long reviews! XD Thanks!_

 _2\. Guest: We are just going to have to see! :D_

 _3\. Bella-swan11: I'm a bit confused. Who is King?_

 _4\. GoDrinkPinesol624: Thank you! I am sorry about the wait!_


	4. Meet the Masters

**Author's Note: Alright everyone! I am super sorry about the wait but I do love hearing from everyone in regards to this story. Your input really spurs me on and helps me figure out where this story is going. I am open to pairings, so if you have a preference, let me know before I get too far into the story, and if there is things y'all want to see. Like Rey's reaction to people or places, or even events. Also how you feel about extended universe, legacy content or legend content, it's all the same to me, being added into the story! I am interested in what you have to say! Let me know what you think! Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

 **Warnings: Lack of main story continuity, OOCness, language, and unbeta'd.**

 **Word Count: 4,740**

"Are you nervous?"

Rey looks over at Ahsoka, the two of them sitting behind Anakin and Obi-Wan in the pilot and co-pilot seats respectively. The younger girl had to be around fourteen years old. A red band around her breast and white leggings with a red skirt and boots with a longer lighter pink flap hanging off of her belt and red forearm guards. She was the very definition of physical strength. Her body is covered in strong muscles.

Rey is strong and covered in muscles, but hers was built over a lifetime of having to work herself to the bone simply to survive. She wasn't used to seeing the physical strength of others from a lifestyle not of her own. Ahsoka was strong because she had to train her body in order to be able to serve the people. Be a keeper of the peace.

As much as she wants to return to her master, a part of her can't help but be excited about helping people. She's spent almost all of her life just trying to survive, then the little bit of time in which she was trying to help out the Resistance with her Master - though they didn't really do a whole lot - now she will actually be able to help people. Be able to protect them and keep the peace across the galaxy. She'll be able to save lives. She will be more than just an abandoned child on the sandy planet of Jakku.

"No," Rey says, shaking her head and forcing the thoughts away. "Why would I be nervous?"

Ahsoka shrugs her thin shoulders. "I don't mean that there should be any reason for it. I just can't help but always feel a bit nervous when standing before the Masters."

Rey's brows pull together tightly at that. "I don't understand. Why would you be nervous? I was a scavenger before I met my Master. Unkar Plutt was the only real adult figure in my life. He was the one who provided food and money to me and other's like me on Jakku. He's the Junk Boss. I was never afraid to stand before him, even when he was cruel," Rey says, evenly, not sounding like she was trying to talk down to Ahsoka, simply make a point. "He could single-handedly destroy me and have me killed. I refuse to believe that the Jedi would be that way, therefore I will not be scared to stand before them when I know I have done nothing wrong."

Ahsoka stares at her, blue eyes wide. She looks a mixture of sympathetic, surprised and worried with a touch of admiration. Rey was a very strong woman. Her posture is on point, her face is stoic, and she is peaceful in the Force. She wasn't a pitiful girl, she was proud and strong. She was beautiful, both on the outside and in the Force.

Anakin and Obi-Wan both look at one another, communicating with their eyes. Rey only has a glimpse of Obi-Wan's face, which reveals nothing, and can only see the back of Anakin's head. When Obi-Wan's eyes find her own curious one, he offers a thin smile before turning back around. Rey isn't sure what that means, but she hopes it's something good.

She looks away too. She turns her attention to the ship around her.

The Twilight, as it is referred to as, is basically a hunk of junk held together by tape and a few loose screws. It's been carefully tended to, though, Rey can see many hours has been put into maintaining the structural integrity of the ship. Anakin seems quite proud of it. So she can only assume that he was the one that loved it enough to look after it. Rey sort of feels bad now.

The Millennium Falcon isn't garbage. The _Twilight_ is.

But Anakin seems to love it, so she wasn't going to hurt his feelings. It's not worth it. He's been nothing but kind to her since she got to them. Well, for the most part. Rey is still trying to acclimate to this new life. She's trying to get her feet steadily beneath her. Trying to wrap her head around everything going on, and it's not really working.

She has to push forward, though. She has to think about what her master would want. Not what she wants. She wants to go back to him, speak with him. She wants to try to get him to her so that she can understand what he did. How he got her there. She just wants answers. And she wants to be with the only person who has any idea what is going on.

Rey has spent so much time on her own, finally having someone who she knows she can rely on... maybe she's become too complacent. Maybe she shouldn't have relied on Luke as much as she did. As much as she still does. She's nineteen years old and yet she's not able to remove herself from her master's coat tails. True, she hasn't been a Padawan for very long and still really needed her master if she was going to be even slightly good at this whole "Jedi" thing, but that didn't mean that she had to completely rely on him for everything in her life.

Then again, seeing as this is kind of a Force thing, it's safe to just rely on him. Or, it was. Now that he's gone, she won't be able to go to him anymore. She doesn't know what she's doing anymore. She's kind of just going along with the flow hoping that Anakin, Ahsoka and Obi-Wan would be able to lead her on the correct path to getting her answers.

Hopefully the answers she seeks will be on Coruscant.

"Alright, we're here," Anakin says, typing in a transponder code to Coruscant response tower to allow them access to the planet, before heading straight toward the Temple. Anakin raises his hands above his head, stretching out a bit before sinking back into his seat.

Rey looks out the window and is in awe. It's true, the entire planet is one giant city! Towering skyscrapers and an unbelievable number of people occupy the planet's surface. The lower levels of Coruscant can't even be seen from where she is, flying across it. Roads just disappear into darkness below. Yet, Rey can feel the entire planet is teeming with life. Rey has been to some beautiful, plentiful worlds, and yet none of them had the amount of life that Coruscant has. Rey is in complete awe. Nothing can beat this!

"Good," Ahsoka sighs, speaking up for the first time in a long time. She is also stretching out, rubbing at her lower back, grimacing in pain. "These seats are not comfortable at all. My back is killing me." She rolls her shoulders around, unbuckling herself from the seat and standing up. Obi-Wan looks over his shoulder at her, but doesn't say anything.

Rey isn't so sure about that. The seats weren't that bad, she was used to sleeping in worse conditions. Sitting, is just fine. Especially considering that the chairs are padded, even if slightly, it was more than what she was used to. It's not comfortable, but it's more than what she would usually have so she's not going to complain. Even living with Luke wasn't the lap of luxury like this is.

They land in the hanger at the Jedi Temple and Rey is completely mesmerized. She hasn't even left the ship, yet she can already feel the Jedi in the Temple. She has never felt so many Force Sensitive! The Dark Side is so strong here, but so is the Light. She can see the swirling darkness resonating from a building not too far away from the Temple. She can feel a level of the Dark Side unlike anything she has ever felt before. It's vibrating from there, neatly cloaked within itself, but Rey is sure there is something evil there.

What, though, she has absolutely no idea.

"What is that?" Rey asks, her eyebrows pulling together tightly as she steps off of the ramp and onto the Temple floor.

Ahsoka looks up at her, curiously, before following her eyes to the nearby walls she's looking at. "A wall?"

Rey blinks, her 'sight' is somewhere far off but her eyes focus in on the wall that Ahsoka supplied to her. Rey shakes her head. "No, I mean..." she hesitates, not knowing what exactly to call this terrible feeling settling in her gut. She doesn't know what that great source of Dark Side energy but surely the Jedi must know about it. There isn't a point in her bringing it up. "Nothing," she finally says, looking away. "Never mind."

Ahsoka raises an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"

Rey nods. "Yeah." She turns to Anakin and Obi-Wan, who were speaking to a person covered head to toe in light colored tunics - whites, light browns, yellows and grays - and a white mask with a yellow design with the hood pulled up. In their hands was a double bladed lightsaber, much like Rey's, but the handle is much larger than her own.

"Who is that?" Rey asks, looking down at Ahsoka. "The person with the mask?"

Ahsoka looks over at them. "That's a temple guard. He is one of many that help protect the temple."

Rey looks around for a moment. It's only the garage, but there is over a dozen people of all ages wearing Jedi tunics, walking around, talking about one thing or another, preparing to leave or just showing up. But all of them are Jedi. They are all teeming with the Force inside of them. They are stronger than she is able to believe.

"From what?" Rey asks, looking back over at the younger girl. "What would they need to protect the Temple from?"

Ahsoka looks surprised by that question. Her blue eyes are blown wide and she blinks a few times rapidly, trying to come up with something. "I... I don't know. Anything, I suppose?"

"But who could overthrow a Jedi Temple?" Rey asks in disbelief.

"It's nothing easy," Obi-Wan says, walking over. "And we don't expect that something would occur, but we would always rather be safe than sorry. And it doesn't have to be a massive take over, but something as simple as sneaking into the Temple for one reason or another."

"He says as if that is actually an easy feat," Anakin says, stepping up next to the blond man, rolling his eyes.

Obi-Wan glares at him for a moment before looking back at Rey who is only a few inches shorter than him. " _Or_ they would be called upon if matters with a particular person within the Order is acting out of place. They keep the Order within the Temple and ensure everyone's safety. Their jobs are very important. It's their jobs to ensure that we are able to do our jobs. They are vital to our continuation. In times of great action, like now, they are the ones that are trusted to watch over and protect the Temple in the Knight's stead. They are our first and last line of defense. They deserve our upmost respect."

Anakin rolls his eyes. "You say that as if I don't respect them. I do! I always treat them with respect. In fact, if anything, they are one of the few that I show respect to." He smiles sheepishly at his master's annoyed look. He reaches out and pats Obi-Wan onto the back. "Come on, the Council is ready to see us, so lets not keep them waiting any longer than we already have. You might not be scared of them, Rey," Anakin says, grinning playfully over at her, "but I am. So let's go."

Obi-Wan rolls his eyes before turning and waving his hand for them to follow.

* * *

Rey feels like this is the happiest day of her life. She has never been around so many people who were just like her! They were all Force Sensitive, just like her. They were of all sorts of races, heights, ages, shapes, colors, yet they were all _just like her_!

Rey couldn't help herself from being in absolute awe of all of them. She had to of looked insane, staring at everyone with large brown eyes and her mouth hanging open. She stopped every couple of minutes, taking in the sights. All of the Jedi, with the Force flowing through them. How they weren't just a bunch of people living together, they were a community. Everyone had a place there. Everyone belonged.

Rey is so completely jealous. To think that there is a chance that she _might_ be able to fit in here, is a dream come true, and might just be enough to forget the pain in her chest and in the Force over the loss of her Master and her friends. If only for a moment. And even if it's just a moment, it's more than she could ever dare to ask for. She doesn't want to forget them, she just wants to stop the pain. Even if it is only briefly.

"Rey," Ahsoka sings, after Rey stopped for the hundredth time to watch the Younglings train with their practice sabers in one of the rooms. Anakin, Obi-Wan and Ahsoka have to keep stopping in order to not lose her. "We are so late."

Rey looks over at the togruta, a small blush on her cheeks as the three Jedi smile back at her, amused by her childishness. She honestly hated that they were seeing her like this - so unprofessional - but she couldn't help herself. She was so fascinated by it all. In a different lifetime, in a different period of time, she could have been one of these children. This could have been her life. Among those like her.

She loves her Master and her friends, but she can't help but think that she would be so much happier in a life like this. Being a Jedi would be amazing.

Rey looks between the children training and the three awaiting Jedi, debating on what she wanted to do. She wanted to stay there and watch the children train, maybe even learn along side them - that would be so much fun! - but she had to go and see the Council and see if they would be able to help her at all. She needed guidance, a lot of it, and she just hopes that they will be able to do that for her.

If the Jedi Masters can't help her, than who can?

"I'm sorry," Rey says softly, backing away from the door. It's so hard to be able to pull her eyes away. She just wants to watch them for a few minutes longer, but she knows that she can't. She just has to keep moving. She can come back. She can watch them again. They are going to need a lot more training than just this. Just like she will. They and she are in the same boat. They all have so much more to learn.

"There is no need to apologize," Anakin says, crossing his arms over his chest, offering a charming half smile. "I can only imagine how you feel. I remember when I first came here. I was in awe of everything too."

Obi-Wan lets out a little huff. "Ah, yes. I remember too. You two are like a mirror image. You both were practically spinning around on a top trying to absorb everything with your eyes. It was interesting to watch."

"You weren't like that?" Rey asks, looking between Obi-Wan and Ahsoka. "You weren't in awe the first time you saw the Temple?"

Ahsoka shrugs. "I was much younger than Master. I was three years old when I was brought to the Order. Average time for a youngling."

"And I was younger than that," Obi-Wan says. "I was six months when I was brought to the Order."

Rey's eyes widen. "So young? I... I don't understand. If three years old is the average time someone comes to the Order, than does that mean that you are above average, Obi-Wan?"

Obi-Wan laughs, genuinely amused. "No, I don't think it's anything like that. When we were brought to the Order doesn't have any correlation to where we are now. I manifested my Force powers young, very young, and my parents probably didn't know how to care for me, so they sent me to the Jedi. That doesn't make me any better or any worse than any other Jedi here."

They start walking slowly toward the Jedi Council room.

Rey looks over at Anakin. "Then, when were you brought to the Order?"

"I was nine years old," Anakin says. "I was born away from Republic space and it's rare for Jedi to go looking for younglings outside of Republic space. It was Obi-Wan's master that found me and brought me to the Order. A brilliant man named Qui-Gon Jinn." Obi-Wan blinks slowly, looking down, a faint smile crossing his face as he is momentarily lost in his memory of this person that Rey doesn't know.

In the Force, Obi-Wan's pretty blue aura is slightly darkened at the memory. There is a hint of something negative in there that quickly fades away, swallowed up in the light. Whatever darkness in there is gone again. They climb onto an elevator and head up, elapsing into silence. They settle into this comfortable silence, listening to the sound of each other breathing.

"You were raised by a junker, right?" Anakin asks, breaking the silence as he turns to Rey, looking down at her. Rey nods, pulling her eyes away from Obi-Wan. "Huh, I guess there is a lot you and I have in common."

Rey quirks an eyebrow at that. "Do we?"

Anakin looks away, watching the lights of each floor pass them by. "Yeah..." Strangely, Anakin's eyes look sad and torn between something good and something bad about the past that they supposedly have in common, but he releases nothing into the Force. Absolutely nothing. It's not a matter of controlling it, seeing as even in the short time that she's known Anakin she knows that he's not very good at controlling his feelings, but simply that nothing is being released into it. The Force isn't able to detect how he feels about it.

Master Luke had once explained a phenomenon like this to her. It's that they are so deeply conflicted about something that they don't know how to feel. Not just being unable to explain it, but actually not being able to feel the correct associations with something. Rey wasn't sure she understood what that meant, even now, but it's still strange to see that. If not even the Force knows what's going on, that's when things start getting weird.

* * *

"Don't be nervous," Obi-Wan says, reaching out and patting Rey's shoulder.

"I'm not nervous," Rey says. But there is a bit of a pit in her stomach. She's not scared of them, but she's scared of what they would say. That they wouldn't be able to help her, or they wouldn't want her to be with them, or they wouldn't believe her. Or, they would believe her and do nothing about it. Luke has told her stories about this time and how things could have been different. She didn't know a whole lot of specifics, but she did know the basics of how everything went wrong, and Luke's perception of how it got to that point.

Obi-Wan's smile is thin. "I understand. But Ahsoka, Anakin and myself will be right there with you."

"Yeah," Ahsoka says, grinning at her. "It'll be fine!"

Rey nods, sparing a glance over at Anakin, who also nods, encouragingly, before following Obi-Wan into the room guarded by two towering Temple Guards who didn't shift in the slightest since they got there.

Rey was... kind of nervous when she got there. Not so much about meeting them, but by what they have to say. Now that she's walking into the room with all of these amazingly powerful Force Sensitive beings - with all of these _Jedi Masters_ \- she is starting to feel the nerves kicking up a little bit. She isn't sure what she expected to feel, but her steps admittedly got more apprehensions than before. She lost a bit of pep in her step.

So many eyes turn to her from so many different races, all very powerful in the Force. Obi-Wan goes walking over to an empty chair and sits down.

Rey's jaw drops. "You!"

Obi-Wan's smile is mockingly innocent and unknowing. "What? Is there a problem?"

"You said you were a Master!"

Obi-Wan's eyes widen slightly in mirth. "Oh, but I am. I'm a _Council_ Master."

Rey crosses her arms over her chest, leaning on one hip, trying to hid her surprise and slight amusement. "You never said that, though. Only that you were a Master."

Obi-Wan smiles more mirthfully. "Well, there is a reason for that."

Ahsoka giggles behind her hand while Anakin grins in Rey's peripheral. She tries to ignore both of them. "And what would that magical reason be, Master Kenobi?"

Obi-Wan's smile is simple, easy going. "You never asked."

Rey's jaw drops again, as she loses the ability to talk for a second, unable to find a retort to that. No, she honestly didn't ask, but she didn't know that she had to in order to get that information. It takes her a long time, maybe too long - which is almost an entire minute of silence - before she realized that was the point. He was just joking with her. It probably didn't really matter to Obi-Wan to mention that he was a Council Master. He was probably more interested in seeing how she was going to react around him without knowing what he really was.

Makes it more real, she guesses.

"Fine," Rey says, relaxing a bit. "I can get with that. Next time, I'll ask."

"Questions are always good," Obi-Wan says. He makes a gesture for her to step into the circle in the center of the room so that they can all have a good look at one another. "But, lets move onward to a bit more pressing matters."

Rey does as she's told, taking a moment to look around at all of the Masters. She looks at them each in turn, trying to engrain each of their faces into her memory. These will hopefully be the people that she will be looking to for guidance for the rest of her time here, or her life.

She's feeling a bit overwhelmed but she takes a deep breath, remembering her Master's voice in her ear: If you panic, you won't be able to think clearly. Relax and concentrate.

So she does, she takes a slow, deep breath, and her entire body relaxes. Most, if not all, of her anxiety begins to melt away.

"Hello Masters," Rey says, straightening her posture. "I'm Rey."

The Masters murmur their hellos, before going through brief introductions of their names, which was hard to keep up with. There was a lot of them and even though most of them were of different species, yet they always seem to blur together a bit. She's never met these people before in her life, so it's hard for her to be able to acutely put their names to their faces. Anakin and Ahsoka both stare on, offering their support.

"Master Kenobi was able to tell us a bit about the situation," one of the masters says. His name blanks on Rey. She doesn't remember his name at all. Then her eyes flicker over to Anakin, who mouths something to her, and for a moment she didn't know what it was, then she realized, it was his name. Ki-Audi Mundi.

"Okay," Rey says, slowly shifting her weight from one hip to the other. "I don't really know what exactly Obi-Wan has told you, but I've been through a real... head scratcher."

"We will get to down to the real issue in a moment," a woman says. Depa Billaba, Anakin mouths. "For now, tell us a bit about yourself. About how you grew up. About the place you live in."

That was a lot of things that she had to talk about. She wasn't sure where to start.

"Well... the place I lived for most of my life was the planet of Jakku. I was left there by my family when I was just six years old. This was about..." Rey's eyebrows pull together in concentration. "I was born about ten years into the reign of the New Republic. I was about nineteen years old and an anti-Republic group by the name of the First Order was in full swing."

"Tell us about this First Order," a black man says. Mace Windu. Depa looks over at him, opening her mouth to say something, but then deciding against it and closing her mouth once more.

Relieved to talk about something other than herself, she happily does just that. "The First Order is exactly what you would imagine an anit-Republic group would do. They fight, skirmishes. I don't really know what else to say. I wasn't part of the battle until just before I joined up with Finn and BB-8 and their mission to..." she hesitates, realizing that none of these people know who either of them are. "Never mind. Basically, the Resistance, which is the Republic in the most basic of senses, and the First Order are both looking for my Master, Luke. He was the very last of the Jedi. Leia, leader of the Resistance wanted his help in the fight, while the First Order wanted to kill him, I suppose being, as I said, the last of the Jedi."

"How can that be, though? What happened to all of the other Jedi?" Ahsoka asks, speaking out, before catching the eyes of the Masters on her. "Uh, sorry." She looks away.

Rey blinks in surprise, wondering why she hadn't mentioned it first. It should have been the very first thing that she said to them. It was probably the single most important thing that she could say to them. Obi-Wan wanted a bit of insight on their future, well, here it is.

"The Jedi," Rey says, drawing everyone's eyes back to her and off of a now grateful Ahsoka, "all were killed." She feels the temperature in the room drop fifty degrees as the look on Ahsoka's face changes from grateful to horrified and the Force is filled with a spike of anxiety from all around the room before settling into stoic peace. Rey continues, slowly, "There was a mass slaughter of the Jedi at the end of the Clone Wars and the rest were hunted down by Darth Vader in the years that followed."

"You mean..." Anakin say slowly, his eyes blown wide. He snaps his mouth shut, the muscles along his jaw working.

"By the time I was born, Jedi were simply a myth. My master is the only Jedi I met in my time. He was the very last of them."


	5. The fuse

**Author's Note: I am so sorry about the wait! I love the attention that this story is getting and hope that the wait hasn't discouraged you from letting me know what you think! Just so you all know, no matter what is said in this chapter, there isn't a limitation on what the pairing can be, I promise! Unfortunately, I don't really like this chapter but I've rewritten it too many times and y'all have waited enough! Let me know what you guys would like! Enjoy the chapter!**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

 **Warnings: Lack of main story continuity, OOCness, language, and unbeta'd.**

 **Word Count: 5,075**

There is a strained silence that settled around the room. At first, the masters stared at her as if she was about to bust out laughing, slap the back of the nearest master, tell them she was just joking with them and proceed with the truth, but after two entire minutes of her just staring back at them without even the slightest twitch of her face in a joking manner, dread fills the Force around all of them.

Ahsoka's eyes are blown wide, staring at Rey as if trying to convince her to say it was a joke, then the dread starts to fill the Force, and her orange skin starts to lose all color as horror begins to set in. Her long, thin fingers twist and curl at her sides, as her anxiety finds a way to physically manifest itself. The rest of her body remains motionless.

Everyone starts looking around at one another, using their eyes and a deep rooted connection with one another, to speak without using any words or releasing anything too alarming into the Force. The dread is there and is quickly trying to pull back into themselves to cloak it, or perhaps they are regaining control of their surprise. An eerie emptiness is left there in the Force from the Masters, trying not to alarm the guards outside and those close by of the unease within the chambers and cause a panic.

Rey feels something that she can only describe as rationality, or something relaxing at least, flood into the Force. It comes from the small green Master, and it seems to sooth the others. There is age in him, Rey doesn't need the Force to tell her those lines on his face aren't just stress related. It's got to be from a long life, too. And his ability to control the room... Rey has only become aware of the Force recently, but there is few that she knows of able to do such a thing without saying anything at all. There is a lot of trust and respect in this Master.

But there was a lot of confusion and worry funneling into the Force, though, from two people. The strongest of which -

" _What_?"

Rey looks over at Anakin to see his steel blue eyes are blown wider than even Ahsoka's. But he's staring right at Rey, probing both with his eyes and through the Force. He isn't trying to peak into her mind, just using is presence in the Force to bear down on her. Like a heavy pressure is settling over her and pushing hard. She recognizes this feeling from the one time she dealt with Kylo Ren. He was trying to peak into her mind to see the map leading to Luke, and was using his power in the Force as a way of "throwing his weight around".

With Kylo, she felt the pressure, even though she didn't know about the Force inside her, but with Anakin, it's like the entire planet of Coruscant is weighing down on her shoulders. Anakin isn't just strong in the Force, he's unbelievably powerful in it. He's stronger than even Luke! It's like his power is completely endless and eternal. Rey didn't really know who was Anakin Skywalker, but in that instant, she knew he would be an invaluable ally. A man of monstrous strength in the Force and convictions to match.

"How?" Anakin asks. "What happened to all the Jedi?"

"Anakin," Obi-Wan starts but stops when one of the other masters - Mace Windu? - shakes his head. He wanted an answer for that question too. Rey isn't sure she knows how to answer that question in a way that'll make them happy. But maybe that's where the dread comes from. From their perspective, if what she says is true, then something terrible is going to happen.

Rey thinks about those younglings. Wanting to be like them. Be here in the Temple, learning how to be a Jedi. Having Masters and fellows to learn with. To be part of something. To be able to belong to something. To have people in the exact same boat as you.

But that means that probably none of those younglings survived. And if they did, they were hunted down by Vader, or killed by some other means, or were turned to the Dark Side, or simply fell between the cracks of the galaxy. Too afraid to make a noise. Too afraid to draw the attention of someone unwanted. Hiding who they were and where they came from. Survival over all else.

"What happened?" Anakin asks again, stepping closer to her, seemingly unable to hear either of the Masters. He's too keyed in on her words to be able to hear them, or at least, process what they are saying. She can hear her voice echoing in his head. Like a sick mantra, taunting him.

That can't be good.

"I don't know..." Rey says slowly. That seems to only aggravate Anakin more than anything. All of his agitations seems to leak into the Force. It's like a miasma flooding into the space around them, choking the air. His aggravation, anxiety and annoyance floods into the council room from only Anakin, blocking out anyone and everyone else. Rey is in utter awe at his presence in the Force.

Rey doesn't know how to sift through the flood of emotions coming from him, though. All she knows is that he is growing more and more agitated as the seconds pass. She's not skilled enough in dealing with others without the Force to know how to deal with it, throwing the Force into it now, shows just how little she really knows. Luke was always very careful with his emotions, his thoughts. He kept them quiet and close to his chest, showing how years of being an introvert has affected him in the Force.

Being away from other living people probably also helped him build up mental defenses in order to protect himself.

"How can you not know?" Anakin asks again, not even sure how her ignorance could be possible.

"I don't know..." Rey insisted. She has a bit of speculation - on Luke's part - but nothing concrete. But she's not sure how much speculation should be thrown out there. She doesn't want to give the wrong impression and lead them all astray. "I don't know how it happened..."

Anakin takes another step closer, not at all seeing anyone but her. He's so intensely focused on her that she can feel the weight of his Force bearing down on her. Like someone dropped an airship onto her shoulders. Her knees start to shake. She can't hold herself up against this strength. She's not strong enough. She can see the Masters shifting, feeling it as well. Obi-Wan starts to stand up, probably to stop him, but Rey can't wait that long.

"Anakin," She says sharply, shoving the looming presence he's bringing down on her away. She's surprised that she actually managed to do it, throwing both Anakin and herself off kilter by the action. Both of them stumble a bit, their shuffled steps somehow thunderous in the otherwise quiet room. Thankfully, it seems that little shove Rey did to Anakin, pulled him from the warping emotions him.

Calmly, locking eyes with the dazed, steel blues, Rey says, "I _don't_ know, Anakin. I'm sorry. I wasn't born."

Anakin blinks slowly, his shoulders lowering a bit. "I'm... sorry. I'm just worried..."

"We all are," Obi-Wan says, placating, his eyes locked onto Rey, as if seeing her for the first time. "Just relax, Anakin."

"I am," Anakin lies, backing up behind the ring of Masters, becoming subdued in the Force once more. He's not relaxed. He's stressed, and unhappy. And scared. So very scared.

"Tell me about your childhood," another master asks after almost an entire minute of silence. Rey's eyes flicker over to Anakin, but he's too lost in his thoughts to say anything.

"Master Fisto," Obi-Wan says, pulling Rey's eyes over to him.

"What?"

Obi-Wan nods to the master who spoke. "Master Fisto."

Rey nods in understanding. Okay, so it was obvious she didn't remember their names. A bit embarrassing.

"Why do you want to know more about my past?" Rey asks, looking over at Fisto. Sure, she didn't go in depth and she did say something shocking to warrant a lot of worry, but she doesn't understand why her past would have anything to do with it. She wasn't born when this all happened. She's so confused.

"For me and my fellow Masters to get a better incite of yourself. Master Kenobi and Knight Skywalker were able to spend a few days with you, but as this is the first time the rest of us have gotten to meet with you," Fisto says, smiling easily, which is very surprising considering what just happened. "I just want to know more about you, Rey. Is your past a sensitive point?"

Rey shakes her head. "I don't know. There isn't much about my past before my master that was anything other than struggling to survive."

"Then how about we start there?" Fisto says. "What did you do to survive?"

"I was a scavenger," Rey tells them. "I worked for a crolute junker named Unkar Plutt. I worked with a group for a while, until I realized that I was doing all of the work because I was good at it, and having to share the profits, so I set out on my own. It was easier that way."

"You don't work well with others?" Ki-Audi Mundi asks. He casts a small, sideways glance at the other masters. They are fishing for something. Rey just isn't sure what it is.

Rey shakes her head. "No. I wouldn't say that. I would have kept working with them if they were willing to work together. They wanted me to do all the work and carry the group. It was just better to work by myself. I would have liked to work with others." Rey grabs onto her elbow, thinking about Han, Leia, Luke, Poe, Finn, BB-8, and Chewy. "I did what I could to survive until I came across a BB-8 droid that had the information leading to my Master. From there I met Finn and ultimately ran into the First Order. And Kylo Ren."

"Who is Kylo Ren?" another master asks. Shaak Ti. She interlaces her fingers in front of her, blinking slowly, and somehow, in that moment, Rey realized why they wanted to know about her past. They were trying to see if she was credible. They wanted to see if they could puncture holes in her story and disprove what she said about the fate of the Jedi.

Well, she'll tell them everything they want to know, then. She wants the Jedi to live. If by explaining who she is and where she came from, would help them realize that she wasn't lying. She'd spill the beans. It's not like it's some big secret. It's just not overly impressive of a story.

"Kylo Ren is the apprentice of Snoke. He was the one that was hunting for my Master. I don't know who exactly Snoke is, or what he looks like, but I've heard of him and my Master has sensed him. But Kylo Ren managed to capture me because I saw the map the lead to my master and with him is where I unlocked my Force abilities."

"What does that mean?" Obi-Wan asks.

"I never knew I was Force Sensitive, so I was never trained," Rey says. "So, while fighting Kylo with my Master's lightsaber, I was able to awaken my ability. I... don't know how to explain what happened. While we were fighting, it was like..." she squints pretty brown eyes, as if trying to summon up the feeling again from the memory alone, "something inside of me awakened. I was able to fight him off and escape with my life. Then I went to General Leia and with the help of both BB-8 and Luke's little astromech droid that had been in some sort of power-down mode since he left Luke, named R2-D2, we were able to find my Master."

"R2-D2?" Ahsoka echoes, her blue eyes wide.

Rey twists around to look at her. "Yes, why?" The color has finally returned to her body. She still looks both unnerved and unhappy, but relieved to be talking bout something other than the looming doom for the Jedi.

"What did he look like?" Anakin asks. "The astromech droid."

Rey looks at him. "Blue and silver. My master said he once belonged to the Chosen One."

The room falls dead silent. All of the Masters in the room share sideways glances with one another, communicating with their eyes, but not letting anything into the Force.

"I was going to ask how you able to fight with your Master's lightsaber without having met him yet, but I think the better question would be; what do you know about the Chosen One?" Mace Windu asks, leaning forward with his elbows resting on his knees.

"Just what my Master told me, and some of it is speculation, I think," Rey says, uncomfortable. She wants them to be aware of what is going to happen, but she doesn't want to feed them the wrong information. There is just no way that's good for anyone. Especially not the Jedi. This is a trying time for them. A time for them to try and figure out how to save themselves and everyone else. She shouldn't be feeding them the wrong information that might hamper their decisions.

This wasn't about hurting. This was about helping.

"What did your master tell you?" Another master asks.

"Master Tiin," Obi-Wan says at Rey's blank stare.

Rey nods slowly, reaching up and grabbing at the loose strands of her hair as a way of busying herself. "A lot of things that is intermixed with his opinion, but what I do know about the Chosen One, is that he brought balance to the Force. Not once, but twice." She twirls her hair around for a moment before stopping, realizing that she was trying to distract herself. "My master told me..." Rey looks around at the Masters, her eyebrows pulling together, "he told me that the Jedi betrayed the Chosen One."

There is another deathly silence. Rey isn't sure she is going to be able to get used to this many people lapsing into silence as many times as they have. Hopefully this isn't a glimpse into the future. One filled with a lot of awkward silences.

Then again, their topic of conversation isn't exactly one of sunshine and rainbows. Maybe that is where their apprehension comes from.

"How?" Obi-Wan asks, flatly.

"What?" Rey asks, looking over at the blond master. There is an uneasy flittering feeling in the Force. When Rey's eyes lock with Obi-Wan, she feels this tenseness in his body even though he's a few feet away from her. She can't tell if he's in disbelief, angry or what? It's like this cold feeling that is surrounding him that she doesn't understand.

"How did the Jedi betray the Chosen One?" Obi-Wan asks slowly, blue eyes dark.

"Obi-Wan..." Anakin starts, his eyebrows pulled together tightly but Obi-Wan holds up his hand and silences the younger man.

"According to my Master..." Rey says slowly, looking between the two men. Obi-Wan looks upset, and Anakin... looks somehow distraught, but in a different manner. Almost not for the Chosen One, but for Obi-Wan. "The Jedi Masters tried to stop the Chosen One from doing his duty. So the Force punished them."

"How is that possible?" Master Depa asks, her eyebrows pulling together. She looks around at her fellow masters.

"I don't know," Rey says, shaking her head. "I would hate to speculate. All I know is what my master told me and even then it's all second hand knowledge. He was born after the Jedi Order was destroyed."

Another. Painful. Silence.

But this time, they all stare at one another, a flourishing emotional maelstrom around them all. Rey isn't sure who's feeling what or how strong, but it's like a whirlwind around her. She thought that she would be able to help them, but she's starting to wonder if she's only making it worse.

"The way my master explained it," Rey says, "the Jedi didn't understand what his purpose was, and so they ignored him as he tried to bring the Force back into balance, until it was too late."

"And the Order was destroyed..?" Ahsoka asks, her orange skin pale once again.

"Yes," Rey says, grabbing onto her left elbow with her right hand. "A knight that later became Darth Vader killed the Chosen One and destroyed the Order."

Blank stares.

"What?" Anakin says, his eyebrows pulling together. "I thought... I thought you said the Chosen One brought balance to the Force not once, but twice!"

"They did," Rey says. "The Chosen One was the only one that stood between the Light and the Dark. The Jedi were ignoring the raising power of the Dark Side, instead of adapting like the Chosen One was trying to get them to do, and so the Force allowed Darth Vader to be created and destroy the Order and the Republic. If the Jedi refused to allow the Chosen One to bring balance, than it was going to have to go with option B."

"The Sith," Master Windu spits the word in disgust. His face twists into this nasty look.

"Master Luke said that the Force is equal parts Light and Dark, that the reason that the Chosen One keeps on being throughout time is because Jedi and Sith and their actions without thought upsets the balance," Rey says. "I'm sorry. If my master was here, maybe he would be able to tell you more, but I just don't know. I don't know the hows or whys of it all, just the points."

 _Another_ silence.

The Masters look around at one another, using their bond to one another to communicate without words. Again. There was so much speculation and not a lot of facts that Rey is worried about what they would think. If they thought she was crazy, well, at least it would give them something to think about, hopefully. But if they realized that she was telling them the truth - however muddied it is, though - would they really be able to do anything? Rey simply didn't know. Obi-Wan seemed to believe that she would be able to help them, but she is worried that maybe she's caused more trouble than anything.

"I'm sorry," Rey says, looking over at Obi-Wan, who seems to have settled down from his anger before. He's stroking his beard contemplatively, though, looking down at the carpet in thought.

"For what?" Obi-Wan asks, looking tired and far older than Rey's sure that he is.

"You thought I would be able to help you guys." Rey pulls at the ends of her hair again. "I think I've just added more of a mess to this than anything."

"That's impossible," Obi-Wan sighs, stroking his beard one more time before dropping it onto his lap and leaning forward from his relaxed pose. "This entire war has been a mess since before you came along, Rey. You've just... added to what we need to think about. Perhaps added a bit of perspective, to some things that we may have lost sight of."

"Your insight is invaluable, I think," another master says. Plo Koon, Anakin mouths before Obi-Wan can say it. "There is much that we must speak about in private and ponder over. Would we be able to call on you again, once we have digested this information and have more to ask?"

Rey blinks a few times. "I don't mind. I don't know how much help I can be, though."

"Have confidence in what you know," Windu says, lacing his fingers together on his lap. He still looks unhappy, but his thoughts seem to have cleared up for the time being. Or, at least, he's hiding how he's feeling. "The Force..." he hesitates, looking Rey up and down for a moment, "it may have sent us something that we weren't expecting, and we need to take a bit o time to think things through and discuss amongst ourselves, but I agree with Master Koon, we would like to have you come back."

Rey nods, happy that they are at least giving some stock to what she's saying. At the very least they don't seem to think that she's completely insane. She's not sure how much they believe her, but they are considering what she said. To them, she's probably talking about some sort of post apocalyptic wasteland with a pure mixture of chaos and discord. But she knows that there is still good out there.

Just like there must still be good here.

* * *

"I can't believe I get to stay here, in the _Jedi Temple,_ " Rey gushes, looking around with wide, innocent brown eyes.

Ahsoka smiles a bit, following behind the older girl. "Well, of course! Where else would you go?" She puts her hands onto her hips and raises an eyebrow.

"No where, I suppose," Rey admits, looking around the plain room to the doorway where Ahsoka is standing. "I just thought that, with all of the terrible things that I said today, that the Jedi would be hesitant to let me stay."

Ahsoka shakes her head. "No way. Sure, a lot of what you said was really worrisome, but the Jedi aren't like that. We are understanding. It's not great things that you had to say, but Master Plo was right, what you said that was a lot to take in. The Masters will just have to talk it over and figure out what they are going to do next."

Rey pulls her satchel off of her shoulder and lays it down on the bed. "I suppose. I just..." her eyebrows pull together tightly. "I hope I end up being able to help the Jedi, rather than not." She frowns, lacing her fingers together on her lap.

"You are helping us, Rey," Ahsoka insists, stepping into the room, letting the door shut behind her. "We never would have known any of this was coming if you hadn't said anything. I don't know how the Masters plan on saving us, but now that they know that there is an issue, then I'm sure we will start moving forward on how to better handle this."

Rey is inspired by Ahsoka's words. All Rey wanted to do was to be somewhere she belongs and finally find the people she should be with. She thought that those people were her Master and friends - and a large part of her heart is still holding out for it - but if she can't figure out what happened to her when her Master sent her away, and how to get home, than she's stuck looking once more.

No. There has got to be some way for her to return home. Maybe she can help the Jedi, but ultimately, she does want to return to her Master and her friends. Is it naïve of her to wish for that?

"Do you miss your home?" Ahsoka asks, walking over to Rey and sitting on the girl's borrowed bed next to the time traveler.

"Not so much Jakku," Rey admits, although an achingly small part of her still wonders if her family actually ever returned for her. She knows that it's foolish of her, really, but what if, even after all of these years, they do come back for her? What if, now that she is so far away from them, they would all return to her? Her family? Her master and friends? And she is nowhere nearby for her to be able to be with them. And she was starting to -

No. Don't think about that.

"Your friends? Your master?" Ahsoka guesses.

"Yeah," Rey admits, shaking her head, hoping to dislodge the thoughts. "My master, mostly. He would often say to me, 'Rey, it's a tough galaxy out there, even for those who know how to survive, but being alone and surviving isn't the same as being with others and surviving'." Rey sighs. "I've always sort of felt out of place, but being with Master Luke felt right. Like I was finally somewhere I could belong, but, now I can't get to him either." Rey sighs again. "I've never said that before, to anyone."

Ahsoka is quiet for a moment, staring at the floor in front of them before looking over at Rey. "I am in a bit of an odd situation with my Master."

Rey raises an eyebrow. Happy to not have to be talking about herself anymore. "What does that mean?"

"Anakin is my Master," Ahsoka says, "but I'm kind of shared between him and Master Obi-Wan. Not that I have a problem with it at all, I enjoy my time with both of my Masters and their troops because we all work well together, so there isn't really a problem. It's just I've never heard of such a thing before. Basically two Masters sharing one Padawan. It's just odd, is all."

Rey has no idea what to say to that. She doesn't know how things are really done here in this time, or in the Jedi at all - she doesn't know if the structure she knows with her Master is how things are done - but she doesn't honestly see a problem with it. Anakin and Obi-Wan seem like good guys. But that's not what Ahsoka is worried about. It's the uniqueness of the situations, which unfortunately, Rey has no advice on.

"Why... is that?" Rey asks, oddly, not knowing what else to say.

"I don't know," Ahsoka says honestly, looking at Rey. "I can't ask my Masters about it, and my best friend, Barriss, wouldn't know. And she's a bit too much of a good Jedi to speculate. She would probably just tell me to ask my Masters."

"So why ask me?" Rey asks.

Ahsoka smiles at her. "Why did you tell me about your Master, Rey?"

Rey stares at her, mouth opening and closing for a moment, not knowing what to say. Why did she say that to Ahsoka? Something she hadn't said to anyone before. She wasn't used to people. Not really. But these last few days, she's had to do a lot of talking about herself and her life, that she didn't really need to talk about with Luke, that maybe it became natural to her.

She wasn't uncomfortable by it, it just wasn't something that she was used to.

Luke and her could sit for hours, meditating or just staring out over the sea or train without a word between them and it was fine. It was comfortable. He wasn't much for sharing his life and there wasn't much to say about her own. But there was always a deep-rooted understanding between them. She wasn't sure how she bonded with her Master so quickly, or if even he understood it, but that was how it was.

Those few short months were enough for their bond. And now he's gone. The pain in her heart and in the Force can still be felt to this very moment. She is painfully aware of this feeling, but that isn't what Ahsoka was asking. It's not about her bond with her Master. It was about her bond with Ahsoka that was in question. Or, perhaps, her lack of bond with Ahsoka.

Why did she tell Ahsoka, someone she hardly knows, something like that? It wasn't anything too personal or in-depth with her relationship with her Master or anything. It was just... something she never said to anyone before. Not to Finn or Poe. Even BB-8.

"I suppose..." Rey says slowly, looking back over into Ahsoka's pretty blue eyes. "I suppose it's just easier talking to someone who doesn't really understand..."

Ahsoka smiles a bit more, nodding. "Yeah. Plus, it's easy to talk to you, Rey."

"Yeah," Rey says softly, looking at the younger girl. "Yeah, you too, Ahsoka."

They sit in silence for a few moments, just looking around the plain room. It wasn't anything too impressive. A bed, small trunk for the meager supplies for a Jedi, a closet and a work bench/desk. Nothing personal. Nothing with life or sentimental meaning. The life of a Jedi. It was more than Rey had, furniture wise, but everything she had - even her makeshift home - all held some sort of meaning to her. She lost that when she left Jakku. Luke kept sentimental stuff, though.

He didn't hold a lot of things, but he did carry a satchel with items that he kept close to him. The only thing aside from his satchel with things that he wouldn't even look at, there was something that he kept on his person that always stood out to Rey.

A necklace he usually kept beneath his robes, hidden away. Long, metal chain with a strange little charm at the end. Japor Snippet, Luke had called it.

 _For the Reviewers:_

 _1\. Bobboky: Thank you!_

 _2\. rayman898: Thank you!_

 _3\. Newworlds: Haha! Almost! They are going to do the second thing they do best: talk about it while getting nothing done._

 _4\. Gun toten Girly: Lol. I was wondering where you went! And don't worry about it, it's so wonderful to hear from you now! Yeah, I keep wanting to emphasize that Rey isn't good with people. She doesn't have a lot of experience and her time with Luke is very different than normal human interaction. The Force did a lot of the work for her, when it came to Luke, and so dealing with people who aren't as keyed into her as he was makes it hard for her to be able to connect properly. I know what you're saying about Rey being trusting, and I want that to have to do with both Luke and the Legends of the Jedi. How enamored Rey was about the Jedi when talking about them with Han? To her, they are these magical, mystical beings that can't do wrong, even though a lot of what Luke told her about them was foreshadowing all their mistakes and how it is ultimately their own fault for their demise. Rey doesn't quite connect the dots yet. Rey isn't used to the Dark Side like the Jedi have grown accustom to. She will come to learn that it is going to get her into a lot of trouble in the future. Luke may be dead now, but he's not finished in this story. Thank you!_

 _5\. Guest: Thank you! She really did, and they are having a lot of mixed feelings about it. They go from shock and alarm, somewhat panic mode, to questioning her legitimacy. Even after everything she's offered, there will be a bit of push back on their part. No one just outright accepts that it's their own fault that everything gets screwed up and that's going to be the case here, too. Rey definitely gave them things to consider and left them with more questions than answers. The infuriating, "I just don't know" is going to be rearing its ugly head again and again. Anakin and Rey would be really cute, and with this story, she could be shipped with anyone! I'm thankfully going to drag on the romance until after The Last Jedi comes out, so hopefully we'll know who she's related to by then - if she's related to anyone - and have a clearer picture on where to go next._

 _6\. KyloRen'sGirl213: Haha, thank you!_

 _7\. Syphon01: Okay! I appreciate you taking the time to read it regardless. I hope that I am at least making it okay to understand, even if you don't have a lot of knowledge about the later movies. If you do have questions, I would love to hear them!_

 _8\. GreenOnBlack: Aww, thanks. It's what I'm sort of becoming known for, I suppose! XD_

 _9\. GoDrinkPinesol624: Thank you!_

 _10\. jellybean: Thank you! And let me know if a preference starts to appear throughout the story! Sorry for the wait!_

 _11\. Andrus Tolero: Really? Thank you! She really did. I hope they reacted properly._


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